FIGURE 3.

ITT event-study and spline estimates of effects of Food Stamps, by age of cohort when the program launched. Panel A. Composite Index, event-study estimates. Panel B. Composite Index, four-part spline

Notes: The two panels plot event-study and linear spline estimates (equations 1 and 2, respectively) using the composite standardized index as the outcome. The sample includes more than 17 million U.S. individuals born in the U.S. between 1950 and 1980 who are observed in the 2000 Census one-in-six sample and 2001–13 ACS merged to the SSA’s NUMIDENT file using PIKs. The regressions are estimated on data collapsed into birth-county × birth-year × survey-year cells, and weighted using the number of observations per cell. Standard errors clustered at the birth-county level. All regressions include birth-year, survey-year, and birth-county fixed effects, as well as 1960 county characteristics interacted with a linear trend. Panel A presents two sets of estimates, with and without birth-state × birth-year fixed effects, in squares and red circles, respectively. The dashed lines show the 95% confidence intervals from the model that includes birth-state × birth-year fixed effects. In panel B, we overlay the event-study estimates (from our preferred specification with birth-state × birth-year fixed effects) with the linear spline estimates depicted using the solid line. The estimates of the slopes of each spline segment are presented in the box on the graph. See text for more details on the construction of the sample and the outcome.