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Household Assets and Food Security: Evidence from the Survey of Program Dynamics

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Abstract

This study uses the Survey of Program Dynamics data to examine the independent role of household assets in food security. It further examines whether assets provide a buffer for low-income households to food insecurity in the face of income losses. Results of the Two-Part Model analyses show that household assets have a significant association with food security in both the full sample and the low-income sample. In the presence of household assets, income’s effect on food security decreases. In addition, the significant interaction terms of income loss and household assets indicate that assets provide resources to smooth food consumption. The findings of this study suggest a consideration of asset building strategies in asset related provisions of current food assistance policy.

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Notes

  1. Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) are special savings accounts that are designed to help poor people build assets for increased self-sufficiency and long-term economic security (Sherraden 1991). Account holders receive matching funds as they save for purposes such as buying a first home, job training, going to a college, or starting or expanding a small business. Welfare recipients are allowed to have IDA accounts in TANF programs in many states (Edwards and Bailey 2006). Generally, savings in IDAs are excluded from asset tests of social assistance programs.

  2. There are 18 items for households with children and 10 items for households without children (Bickel et al. 2000).

  3. In the food security files created by the USDA, households that affirmed no items are in fact coded as missing to avoid a food security score of zero being considered part of this interval scale.

  4. See footnote 1 for a brief description of IDAs.

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  1. School of Social Work, University of Missouri—St. Louis, 121 Bellerive Hall, One University Boulevard, St. Louis, MO, 63121, USA

    Baorong Guo

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  1. Baorong Guo
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Guo, B. Household Assets and Food Security: Evidence from the Survey of Program Dynamics. J Fam Econ Iss 32, 98–110 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10834-010-9194-3

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