Via Roosevelt Institute here at Daily Kos, an important article by Jana Kasperkevic in The Guardian on Food stamps includes a brief reference to Paul Ryan which set me off. Kasperkevic contests the safety net as hammock theory
A large part of Ryan’s argument rests on the premise that federal aid weakens the ability of people to stand on their own feet. [skip]
But the census data released today defies a number of stereotypes about Americans who depend on public assistance.
I totally agree.
It is actually possible to assess the claim that food stamps contribute to a culuture of poverty and cause dependency.
There is convincing evidence that this claim is totally false.
http://angrybearblog.com/...
I summarize the evidence after the jump, but it is better to just click the link (then click another link to get to the actual research paper)
In fact, there is convincing evidence that, in the long run, food stamps cause economic independence.
It is possible to evaluate this, because of the strange way the food stamps program was adopted. For much of the 60 counties decided whether to participate. The fraction which participated increased steadily from the introduction of the program until it was made universal.
This creaates a natural experiment which provides very convincing evidence that availability of food stamps to their families around their birth causes girls (who are now women) increased probability of graduating from high shocool, reduced obestity and,more generally lower levels of the well known metabolic syndrome and higher levels of a reasonable economic independence index (made of are employed, didn't have child during teens, graduated high school and such like).
The Republican's hypothesis can be confronted with the data. It is rejected at standard confidence intervals, because there are significant effects of the sign opposite that which Republicans insist on. The food stamps creates dependency view does not have the scientific status of creationism or global warming denial -- yet. But it is headed in that direction.