Luyi Han, assistant professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics, Sociology and Education at Penn State, will give the talk "Local food prices, SNAP purchasing power, and food insecurity," at noon on Wednesday, Oct. 7, in 157 Hosler Building on Penn State's University Park campus.
The event is part of a fall seminar series hosted by the Initiative for Energy and Environmental Economics and Policy (EEEPI). The talk is free and open to the public.
The supplemental food assistance program (SNAP) is an important fixture in the social safety net. However, not everyone enrolled in SNAP gets the same benefits.
"SNAP benefits are fixed across 48 states, but local food prices vary, leading to geographic variation in the or purchasing power," Han said. "This study examines how local variation in SNAP purchasing power affects food insecurity and health among U.S. adults."
In the study, the team linked data from the National Health Interview Survey with county-level food prices constructed from large-scale retail scanner data.
"Preliminary results suggest that greater SNAP purchasing power is associated with meaningful improvements in food security among low-income households," Han said. "They highlight the importance of accounting for geographic variation in food costs when evaluating SNAP benefit adequacy."
Han's research focuses on regional and rural economic development, particularly on how technology, innovation, and broader economic changes shape opportunities for businesses, workers, and communities. He is especially interested in issues such as rural entrepreneurship, the digital economy, and labor markets. He uses applied microeconomic methods and large-scale data to study questions with real-world policy relevance.
About EEEPI
Established in 2011, EEEPI operates as a University-wide initiative at Penn State with support from the Earth and Environmental Systems Institute and the Institute of Energy and the Environment. EEEPI seeks to catalyze research in energy and environmental systems economics across the University and to build a world-class group of economists with interests in interdisciplinary collaboration.
