Abstract
This article examines the Earned Income Tax Credit Periodic Payment Pilot and its effectiveness in reducing food insecurity for low-income households. Low-income families in Chicago who were eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit provided data over four waves of data collection between 2014 and 2015. We utilize longitudinal random effects logit models to test the likelihood of experiencing food insecurity. The sample was composed mostly by women with low educational levels. The intervention significantly decreased the likelihood of experiencing food insecurity over time (T2: β = −0.23, p = .581; T3: β = −0.89, p < .10; T4: β = −2.21, p < .01). The Periodic Payment Pilot seems effective at reducing food insecurity in low-income families. Further research should examine how changes to the Earned Income Tax Credit payment distribution could improve the lives of low-income families, specifically concerning food insecurity.
Highlights
Food insecurity (FI) is a major public health issue in the United States
The intervention and control groups did not differ at T1 on how comfortably participants could live on their income, or on their financial stress
We found that compared to a control group that received a traditional lump sum payment, periodic payments seem to be associated with lower levels of FI at T3 and T4
Summary
Food insecurity (FI) is a major public health issue in the United States. The EITC is paid as a lump sum as part of the annual tax refund, but its annual distribution can be a shortcoming. EITC recipients frequently make use of the lump-sum payment early in the year, but experience financial and budgeting instability throughout the year (Mendenhall et al, 2014; Smeeding et al, 2000). The inability to cover financial emergencies, such as unexpected health bills, fixing a broken car, or attending to unexpected home repairs may result in increased household financial stress that can negatively impact household food security and wellbeing (Mendenhall et al, 2014). There were administrative difficulties besides small amounts of disbursements that made the advanced payments not appealing to employers and recipients (Holt and Solutions, 2008)
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