Research by Author & Topic

Publications by Kenneth Finegold on Poverty and Safety Net

This brief, part of the Urban Institute's "Recession and Recover" series, examines how the SNAP program (formerly food stamps) responds during a recession and how that response may differ in the current recession from its response in the past.

This report is an analysis of alternative datasets and research approaches to assess the effects of Hurricane Katrina on populations served by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services/Administration for Children and Families (ACF). The assessment addresses four overarching research questions, with an emphasis on using existing datasets: 1) where did populations of interest go and where are they living since Katrina; what are the effects on income and employment; what are the needs for ACF programs and services; and how did the disaster affect ACF programs themselves? The report includes an extensive annotated bibliography of analyses through January 2007.

Food stamp benefits can provide an important supplement to the income of working families (families with children under 18 and earnings), who now make up nearly 40 percent of program participants. States can take advantage of Food Stamp Program policy options that increase eligibility and benefits. Seven policy options are particularly important for working families: more liberal vehicle rules, expanded categorical eligibility, transitional benefits for families leaving cash assistance, outreach, longer certification periods, reduced reporting requirements, and waivers of the required face-to-face interviews at recertification.

Whether they're running for a local office or for president, candidates on the hustings in recent weeks have turned to a new campaign issue: the rising cost of food. Voters are facing sticker shock in grocery aisles, communities are seeing food pantry stocks dwindle, and the presidential candidates are focusing on kitchen-table issues far more intensely than they might have expected when the campaign season started more than a year ago.

This paper uses monthly SIPP data from 1996 through 2003 and state-level policy data to measure the effects of specific food stamp and welfare policies, as well as the minimum wage and EITC, on the food stamp receipt of the low-income population. We find strong evidence that more lenient vehicle exemption policies, longer recertification periods, and expanded categorical eligibility increase food stamp receipt and that the use of biometric technology reduces food stamp receipt. We also find some evidence that more lenient immigrant eligibility rules, simplified reporting, implementation of the EBT program, and outreach spending increase food stamp receipt.

This paper explores the key features of four essential federal-state-local programs that have offered supports to low-income families and individuals in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina -- housing, unemployment compensation, Medicaid, and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. It argues that the complexity of their structures and limited scale have inhibited their ability to respond effectively and quickly to the needs created by Hurricane Katrina. It recommends that national policymakers develop a set of disaster relief mechanisms better suited to address the large-scale cross-jurisdictional migration, diminished state fiscal capacity, increased demand for assistance, and other challenges that major disasters present.

This issue brief draws lessons for public administrators from a study of the devolution of federal policies in HHS programs covered by "Charitable Choice" legislation--Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment (SAPT), and Community Services Block Grant (CSBG)--and the Compassion Capital Fund (CCF). Contracting with FBOs in three cities studied (Birmingham, Boston, Denver) changed little since Charitable Choice, though perceptions about what was permissible had changed. Contracting with congregations and faith expression were more prominent in CCF. The role of faith in services was largely unmonitored, and implementation of the right to an alternative provider was problematic.

This study examines the devolution of federal policies regarding faith-based involvement in three HHS programs covered by "Charitable Choice" provisions--Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment (SAPT), and the Community Services Block Grant (CSBG)--and in the Compassion Capital Fund (CCF). The study sites were Birmingham, Boston, and Denver. FBO contracting changed little since Charitable Choice, though perceptions about what was permissible in federal contracting had changed. Contracting with congregations and faith expression was more prominent in CCF. Implementation of the right to an alternative provider for welfare or substance abuse services is uncertain. [View the corresponding press release]

This report, prepared for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, reviews existing data sources and prior research on six programs operated by the Department that provide food assistance to American Indians living on or near reservations. The purpose of the review is to help identify future research needs and opportunities to exploit administrative data systems and recurring national surveys. The programs covered are the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR), the Food Stamp Program (FSP), the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), the National School Lunch Program, the School Breakfast Program, and the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP). Research topics of continuing importance include the impacts of reservation food assistance on health and nutrition, the characteristics that make nutrition education effective on reservations, the dynamics of program participation, and the contribution of tribal administration to program coordination.

This brief uses data from the 1997 and 2002 National Survey of America's Families to analyze racial and ethnic differences in children's living arrangements and the implications for federal and state marriage promotion policies. Black children are more likely than Hispanic or white children to live with a single parent and most black single parents have never been married. Most single parents of white children are divorced. Hispanic children are more likely than black or white children to live with unmarried cohabiting parents. Between 1997 and 2002, the share of children living with unmarried cohabiting parents rose among blacks, Hispanics, and whites, but the decline in the share of children living with single parents was significant among Hispanics only.