Reform measures affecting the Food Stamp program were implemented at the federal level and restrict benefits for adults without children to three months within a 36 month period. Within Texas, counties with an unemployment rate above 10 percent during the previous quarter are allowed to exempt clients from this Food Stamp benefit restriction. The central question to be examined in this post-reform period is the degree to which participation declines are determined by individual level characteristics, programmatic characteristics, and economic and county level characteristics. Within the 195 non-metropolitan counties in Texas, there has been a 16.7 percent decline in the Food Stamp caseload from September 1995 through December 1998. Individual-level variables examined include demographic, human capital and household characteristics.
Contextual variables examined include economic conditions and migration rates in the county.