SNAP benefits stabilize and multiply throughout the economy — solves aff.
Canning and Morrison 19 — Patrick Canning, Bachelors and Masters degrees in agricultural and resource economics from the University of Maryland, Ph.D. in economics from George Washington University, Agricultural Economist in the Food Markets Branch of the Food Economics Division, Rosanna Mentzer Morrison, Assistant Director for Product Coordination and Dissemination for ERS' Food Economics Division, Associate Editor for ERS' flagship magazine, Amber Waves, 2019 (“Quantifying the Impact of SNAP Benefits on the U.S. Economy and Jobs,” Amber Waves, Available Online at https://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2019/july/quantifying-the-impact-of-snap-benefits-on-the-u-s-economy-and-jobs/, Accessed 07-15-2023)
USDA’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is the Nation’s largest food assistance program. In fiscal year 2018, SNAP served an average 40.3 million people per month and issued $60.9 billion in benefits to be spent in food stores authorized to accept SNAP benefits. The primary goal of SNAP is to provide low-income households with additional rCaesources for buying food.
But SNAP also serves as an automatic stabilizer for the economy. For example, during an economic downturn, when unemployment increases and wages fall, more individuals become eligible for SNAP and enroll in the program. As SNAP participants spend this increased Federal assistance, income is generated for those involved in producing, transporting, and marketing the food and other goods purchased by SNAP recipients. The impact of this increased spending by SNAP households “multiplies” throughout the economy as the businesses supplying the food and other goods—and their employees—have additional funds to make purchases of their own. This multiplier effect on the economy may extend well beyond the initial money provided to SNAP participants.
Although the multiplier theory is well known, the size of the multiplier from increased SNAP benefits is less clear. A recent ERS study examined the multiplier impact of a hypothetical $1 billion increase in SNAP benefits and found that this expansion of benefits during a slowing economy would increase Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by $1.54 billion and support 13,560 jobs, including nearly 500 agricultural jobs (farming, forestry, fishing, and hunting). The expanded benefits would also boost income in the agriculture industries by $32 million.