The Workings of the social safety Net

Safety Net Participation of Refugee Communities

Unlike other immigrants to the United States, refugees are immediately eligible for many social safety net benefits. Although social safety net participation is high upon arrival, there is some evidence that participation declines with time in the U.S. This could be positive: refugees often find employment quickly and may not need social safety net benefits after their initial arrival. However, this could be negative: refugee households might continue to be eligible for benefits but cease receiving benefits. This likely has negative implications for refugees’ positive integration. Marwa AlFakhri, Jamie Ryan, and I recently examined refugee eligibility and participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) during their first five years post-arrival (public results forthcoming). With Jessie Coe, we are currently examining refugee eligibility and participation in Supplemental Security Income (SSI).

The SOcial Safety Net and Income Instability

Over the past 25 years, poor households have become poorer relative to wealthy households, as well as less income stable. Anna Gassman-Pines and I take advantage of a a natural experiment in North Carolina to analyze how recency of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefit transfer affects students' test scores (published in American Educational Research Journal) and disciplinary incidents. We find that student achievement varies based on how recently students received a SNAP transfer. The relationship between time since SNAP transfer and test scores is curvilinear, with test scores peaking in the third week post transfer (shown below). Our findings suggest that increasing the generosity of the U.S. social safety net would improve student achievement, either by decreasing family stress or increasing families' access to nutritious foods or both (op-ed and additional press coverage).