This study contributes to consumer policy by evaluating the food insecurity of families who completed a rigorous, multi-year, federally funded asset-building program. This study analyzes child food insecurity and household food insecurity and examines the role of the IDA program on either outcome, thus contributing insights to two important policy goals: the success of the federal Assets for Independence Act, and the food security of low-income children. We apply two econometric strategies: Bayesian estimation and switching regression. Bayesian estimation was chosen because it is particularly robust for small samples. We do not find a significant relationship between program graduation or dropout for child food insecurity; however, the average treatment effect was positive and significant for both adult and household food insecurity.
