The project meets two important needs in food stamp research: 1) the need for a new detailed analysis of Food Stamp Program entry and exit rates, based on longitudinal microdata from administrative sources, and 2) the need for an assessment of whether more aggregated data can offer much of the same information as these true longitudinal microdata.

Dramatic changes in Food Stamp Program caseloads in recent years stem from changes in the rate at which new people enter the program and the rate at which current program participants exit the program. To understand how government policies and economic conditions affect caseload changes, it often helps to distinguish the effects on program entry and exit. The project will use longitudinal administrative Food Stamp Program data from Maryland to study program entry and exit dynamics. The main report from this project will describe and graphically illustrate how entry rates and exit rates in Maryland varied across recent time periods, across geographic locations within the State, and across different types of program participants.