SNAP online purchasing and the healthfulness of food purchases

I. Hung Kuan; Yizao Liu; Jordan W. Jones; Pei Zhou

doi:10.1002/aepp.13528

SNAP online purchasing and the healthfulness of food purchases

I. Hung Kuan
, Yizao Liu
, Jordan W. Jones
, Pei Zhou

Agricultural Economics, Sociology and Education

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

3 Scopus citations

Abstract

This paper investigates the effects of the SNAP Online Purchasing Pilot expansion (SNAP OPP) on SNAP households' online grocery shopping behaviors and the healthfulness of their food-at-home purchases. We explore quasi-experimental estimates of the impact of online purchasing by leveraging a unique natural experiment: the staggered introduction of the SNAP OPP across US states. The analysis combines data on household food-at-home purchases around the time of the policy expansion with a dynamic difference-in-differences empirical strategy. The results indicate that the SNAP OPP increased the frequency of online grocery shopping, associated spending, and the healthfulness of food-at-home purchases among SNAP households.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	914-932
Number of pages	19
Journal	Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy
Volume	47
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1002/aepp.13528
State	Published - Jul 2025

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

Development
Economics and Econometrics

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10.1002/aepp.13528

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title = "SNAP online purchasing and the healthfulness of food purchases",

abstract = "This paper investigates the effects of the SNAP Online Purchasing Pilot expansion (SNAP OPP) on SNAP households' online grocery shopping behaviors and the healthfulness of their food-at-home purchases. We explore quasi-experimental estimates of the impact of online purchasing by leveraging a unique natural experiment: the staggered introduction of the SNAP OPP across US states. The analysis combines data on household food-at-home purchases around the time of the policy expansion with a dynamic difference-in-differences empirical strategy. The results indicate that the SNAP OPP increased the frequency of online grocery shopping, associated spending, and the healthfulness of food-at-home purchases among SNAP households.",

author = "Kuan, \{I. Hung\} and Yizao Liu and Jones, \{Jordan W.\} and Pei Zhou",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2025 The Author(s). Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Agricultural \& Applied Economics Association.",

year = "2025",

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AU - Kuan, I. Hung

AU - Liu, Yizao

AU - Jones, Jordan W.

AU - Zhou, Pei

PY - 2025/7

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AB - This paper investigates the effects of the SNAP Online Purchasing Pilot expansion (SNAP OPP) on SNAP households' online grocery shopping behaviors and the healthfulness of their food-at-home purchases. We explore quasi-experimental estimates of the impact of online purchasing by leveraging a unique natural experiment: the staggered introduction of the SNAP OPP across US states. The analysis combines data on household food-at-home purchases around the time of the policy expansion with a dynamic difference-in-differences empirical strategy. The results indicate that the SNAP OPP increased the frequency of online grocery shopping, associated spending, and the healthfulness of food-at-home purchases among SNAP households.

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SNAP online purchasing and the healthfulness of food purchases

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