Food Insufficiency During COVID-19: How Unemployment Insurance Mitigates the Effect of Job Loss

Public Deposited
Analytics

Downloadable Content

Download PDF
Request Version for Screen Reader
Last Modified
  • May 3, 2021
Creator
  • Baker, Katie
    • Affiliation: College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Economics
Abstract
  • We examine the determinants of the food insufficiency rise during the COVID-19 crisis in 2020. We then examine the degree to which unemployment insurance benefits mitigate the effect of job loss on food insufficiency and quantify the impact of a $600 reduction in maximum weekly unemployment insurance benefits. We utilize novel Household Pulse Survey data to estimate linear fixed-effect regressions and difference-in-differences models. We find that households reporting pandemic-induced job loss have a 4.3 percentage point increase in food insufficiency risk relative to those working, and the gap grows to 6.1 percentage points in the absence of unemployment insurance. While food insufficiency rates decrease by 2 percentage points for unemployment insurance beneficiaries under the $600 weekly expansion, this effect disappears after the additional benefits expire.
Date of publication
DOI
Resource type
Rights statement
  • In Copyright
Advisor
  • Peter, Klara
    • Affiliation: College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Economics
Degree
  • Bachelor of Science
Graduation year
  • 2021
Language
  • English

Relations

Parents:

This work has no parents.

In Collection:

Items

Thumbnail Title Date Uploaded Visibility Actions
file details Thesis_Draft_Final.pdf 2021-05-03 Public Download