TY - JOUR
T1 - Local Control, Discretion, and Administrative Burden
T2 - SNAP Interview Waivers and Caseloads During the COVID-19 Pandemic
AU - Heflin, Colleen
AU - Fannin, William Clay
AU - Lopoo, Leonard
N1 - Funding Information:
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: The study was supported by the Maxwell X Lab at Syracuse University.
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2023.
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - During the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Department of Agriculture waived the certification interview for the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP), substantially reducing the administrative burden associated with SNAP application for both applicants and agencies. Using primary policy data collected from ten county-administered states, we find that only 27% of counties implemented the interview waiver. Further, models of local decision-making indicate that public health risk, demographic vulnerability and economic need, and political orientation in the county were not statistically significant predictors of waiver use. Finally, we find that the waiver choice did affect SNAP caseloads: using difference-in-difference models that make use of the natural experiment, we find that counties that adopted the SNAP interview waivers experienced a 5% increase in SNAP caseloads.
AB - During the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Department of Agriculture waived the certification interview for the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP), substantially reducing the administrative burden associated with SNAP application for both applicants and agencies. Using primary policy data collected from ten county-administered states, we find that only 27% of counties implemented the interview waiver. Further, models of local decision-making indicate that public health risk, demographic vulnerability and economic need, and political orientation in the county were not statistically significant predictors of waiver use. Finally, we find that the waiver choice did affect SNAP caseloads: using difference-in-difference models that make use of the natural experiment, we find that counties that adopted the SNAP interview waivers experienced a 5% increase in SNAP caseloads.
KW - administrative burden
KW - discretion
KW - local control
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U2 - 10.1177/02750740231186423
DO - 10.1177/02750740231186423
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85165272165
SN - 0275-0740
JO - American Review of Public Administration
JF - American Review of Public Administration
ER -