Peterson, Cora and Le Grand, Julian 
ORCID: 0000-0002-7864-0118
(2011)
Should the U.S. National School Lunch Program continue its in-kind food benefit?: a school district-level analysis of funding efficiency and equity.
Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, 33 (4).
pp. 566-584.
ISSN 2040-5790
Abstract
For over 65 years, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has purchased commodity foods for the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) in an effort to support both schools and food producers. Based on data from 339 Minnesota school districts from 2001–2008, this research examined whether the NSLP's in-kind food program is an efficient and equitable way to fund school food services. Multivariate models suggested that the program is inefficient, though offered limited insight into district-level factors that affected utilization of commodity funding, and therefore offered less clear conclusions about equity. It was estimated that districts obtained just $0.60 in commodity food value given a $1 increase in available commodity funding over the years observed, and that the commodity program's system of “reconciled” and “rollover” funding accounted for much of this discrepancy. Based on these results, it is recommended that a cash benefit replace the NSLP's current in-kind food benefit for schools.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Official URL: | http://aepp.oxfordjournals.org/ |
| Additional Information: | © 2011 The Authors |
| Divisions: | Social Policy LSE Health |
| Subjects: | H Social Sciences > HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare. Criminology |
| Date Deposited: | 26 Oct 2011 10:23 |
| Last Modified: | 05 Jan 2024 22:18 |
| URI: | http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/39063 |
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