Report: Earned Income Tax Credit and Food Consumption Patterns

Posted by Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago on November 10, 2014

The Earned Income Tax Credit and Food Consumption Patterns
Leslie McGranahan, Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach

The Earned Income Tax Credit is unique among social programs in that benefits are not paid out evenly across the calendar year. We exploit this feature of the EITC to investigate how the credit influences the food expenditure patterns of eligible households. We find that eligible households spend relatively more on healthy items including fresh fruit and vegetables, meat and poultry, and dairy products during the months when most refunds are paid.

http://www.chicagofed.org/webpages/publications/working_papers/2013/wp_14.cfm