Timing of SNAP benefits: Food scarcity lowers high-stakes exam scores

Monthly government transfer programs create cycles of consumption that track the timing of benefit receipt. This paper exploits state-level variation in the staggered timing of nutritional assistance benefit issuance across households to analyze how this monthly cyclicality in food availability affects academic achievement. 

Using individual-level score data from a large national college admissions exam in the United States linked to national college enrollment data, the authors find that taking this high-stakes exam in the last two weeks of the SNAP benefit cycle reduces test scores and lowers the probability of attending a 4-year college for low-income high school students.