The effects of lump-sum food benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic on spending, hardship, and health

• P-EBT benefits typically were paid as a one-time lump sum grocery voucher averaging $311 per child in summer 2020. • Families spent $18–42 of P-EBT per student per week for 6 weeks after payment. • Families spent P-EBT more slowly than they spend SNAP benefits. • P-EBT payments reduced low-income families’ food hardship by 40%. • Low-income mothers’ mental health improved after disbursement. This paper examines how providing families with lump-sum in-kind assistance during the pandemic affected food hardship, economic well-being, and maternal health. We study the introduction of a new program, P-EBT, that provided grocery vouchers worth approximately $300 per student during spring and summer 2020. Using cross-state variation in program timing, we find that families spent $18–42 per student per week in the 6 weeks after benefit receipt. Household food insufficiency and children’s food insecurity among low-income families declined by 27–49 % in the month following receipt, and maternal mental health improved by 0.9 standard deviation.