Stamp Jill

To stimulate economy, increase food stamp participation rates

by desmoinesdem, Thu Feb 26, 2009 at 01:56:01 AM EST

Jill Richardson's post at La Vida Locavore on extremely low food stamp participation rates in San Diego got me thinking about how much room there is to improve enrollment in this program.

Bleeding-heart liberal that I am, I'd like to see 100 percent of people who qualify for food stamps get them, just for the sake of reducing hunger in our communities.

But let's leave ethical concerns aside for now. Economic researchers, most recently Moody's Economy.com, have calculated that expanding the food-stamp program produces more economic stimulus than any other kind of government spending, and much more than any form of tax cuts. Every additional dollar spent on food stamps translates into $1.73 circulating in the economy.

http://mydd.com/2009/2/26/to-stimulate-economy-increase-food-stamp-participation-rates