Ohio Economic Experts Panel

Most Recent Survey

October 28, 2024: Benefits Cliffs

Earlier this month, Ohio's Department of Job and Family Services announced that they were introducing a new sliding scale to phase out SNAP benefits in the state. ODJFS Director Matt Damschroder said "Fear of losing food benefits can be a deterrent to taking a new job, working more hours, or even accepting a promotion. Instead of an all-or-nothing approach, we are creating a sliding scale that encourages people to earn more by slowly reducing their benefits as their income grows. This provides an incentive to accept promotions and pay raises knowing they won’t immediately lose benefits."

Question A: “Benefits cliffs” caused by strict income requirements for public benefits create significant barriers to career advancement for low-income workers.

Question B: Benefit phase-outs like that included in the design for the earned income tax credit create fewer barriers to career advancement than strict income cutoffs.

Question C: The recent SNAP eligibility policy change by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services will lower barriers to work for low-income people.

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Goal: Policymakers need information from experts to craft policy that is effective, efficient, and equitable. The Ohio Economic Experts Panel is a tool for promoting better policy outcomes by providing policymakers, policy influencers, and the public with the informed opinions of Ohio’s leading economists.

About: The Ohio Economic Experts Panel consists of over 40 economists from colleges and universities throughout the state of Ohio. Panelists answer monthly questions of relevance to state policy indicating the degree to which they agree or disagree with a policy question and their confidence in their answer based on available evidence.

The Ohio Economic Experts Panel is a social bottom line service of Scioto Analysis, a public policy analysis firm based in Columbus, Ohio.

Suggest Questions : If you would like to suggest a question for the Ohio Economic Experts Panel, please email it to michael@sciotoanalysis.com. Questions most likely to be chosen will be those posed as agree/disagree propositions.