The effect of state Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) eligibility on food insufficiency during the COVID-19 pandemic

Vivekananda Das

doi:10.1007/s11150-022-09637-3

The effect of state Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) eligibility on food insufficiency during the COVID-19 pandemic

Rev Econ Househ. 2023;21(2):485-518. doi: 10.1007/s11150-022-09637-3. Epub 2022 Dec 24.

Author

Vivekananda Das¹

Affiliation

¹ Department of Consumer Science, School of Human Ecology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1300 Linden Dr, Madison, WI 53706 USA.

Abstract

This paper uses data from the Household Pulse Survey to examine whether and for how long the eligibility to receive state Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) benefits reduced self-reported household food insufficiency among lower-income households with dependent children during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results of models estimated using difference-in-differences (DD) and difference-in-difference-in-differences (DDD) methods suggest that state EITC eligibility, on average, reduced food insufficiency by about 3 percentage points between March 2021 and early October 2021. However, the results of models estimated using an event study method show that the effect was not visible in all the post-March bimonthly periods. Overall, this paper finds some evidence to suggest that state EITC eligibility reduced food insufficiency over a short period.

Keywords: Food insufficiency; State earned income tax credit; Household pulse survey; COVID-19 pandemic.

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