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Title: Has Hunger Swelled?

Citation Type: Miscellaneous

Publication Year: 2020

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Abstract: The coronavirus pandemic threatened to increase hardship among US households after efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19 through pervasive social distancing and the declaration of a national emergency in March. Economic activity dramatically diminished, and unemployment initially soared. While federal policymakers acted quickly to shore up the safety net, researchers have argued that food hardship spiked in late March and April and then remained elevated. Claims that food hardship has tripled or worse have led to calls for equally unprec- edented expansions to safety-net programs. This report shows that such claims are unsup- ported and result from researchers comparing recent survey estimates to earlier ones from incom- parable surveys. We estimate that food insufficiency has increased by 2 or 3 percentage points and stands a bit higher than during the Great Recession. Policy- makers’ efforts to mitigate hardship have been more successful than critics acknowledge, and future deci- sions should not assume that hardship is as severe as studies have suggested.

Url: https://www.aei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Has-Hunger-Swelled.pdf

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Authors: Winship, Scott; Rachidi, Angela

Publisher: American Enterprise Institute

Data Collections: IPUMS CPS

Topics: Health, Poverty and Welfare

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