Cash Better Than Food Stamps in Helping Poor: Glaeser
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Feb. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Newt Gingrich has been castigatedfor referring to President Barack Obama as the “best food-stamppresident in American history.” I, too, dislike the formerHouse speaker’s inflammatory phrasing.
Yet I am also troubled by the more than $100 billiondesignated for “food and nutrition” in the president’s 2013budget. The current dominance of in-kind transfer programs, suchas food stamps, Medicaid and housing support, relative to cash-based welfare programs, such as the Earned Income Tax Credit andTemporary Aid to Needy Families, is based on politics ratherthan economics. A consolidated cash-based program could moreefficiently deliver assistance and more effectively encourageemployment.