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Carole S. Trippe
Senior Researcher
Carole Trippe is a senior researcher who specializes in analyzing federal nutrition assistance policy. She is an expert in the development and use of microsimulation models to estimate program eligibility and examine the impacts of potential changes in program policy.
Trippe is the project director of Mathematica’s Measuring Program Access, Trends, and Impacts for Nutrition Assistance Programs project funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), which provides microsimulation and related analyses to estimate the effects of potential changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), examine characteristics of SNAP and other nutrition program participants, and estimate program eligibility and participation rates. These estimates inform policy and budget deliberations and assess program reforms at the national and state levels.
Trippe has directed SNAP-related research and microsimulation projects at Mathematica for more than 25 years and has simulated hundreds of proposed reforms to SNAP. Other recent work includes a study of noncash Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) programs that states use to expand categorical eligibility for SNAP households and how those programs affect the number and characteristics of SNAP participants. She also examined SNAP payment errors and their effects on income and poverty status of SNAP households, and multiple program participation among households receiving food assistance. In another study for USDA, she conducted case studies in four states to assess the effects of state policy options on program operations, agency staffing, program access, program simplification, and quality control error rates.
Trippe presents her research findings to policy and professional groups, including the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management and the Welfare Research and Evaluation Conference. She holds an M.P.P. in Public Policy from the University of Michigan.
Staff Profile
- Areas of Expertise
- Key Projects
- Publications
- Federal nutrition assistance policy
- Development and use of microsimulation models to estimate program eligibility
- Measuring Program Access, Trends, and Impacts for Nutrition Assistance Programs
- Implementation of Options and Waivers to Increase Access to the Food Stamp Program
- "Assets of Low-Income Households by SNAP Eligibility and Participation in 2010" (October 2010)
- "Multiple Benefit Receipt Among Individuals Receiving Food Assistance and Other Government Assistance" (July 2010)
- "Non-Cash Categorical Eligibility for SNAP: State Policies and the Number and Characteristics of SNAP Households Categorically Eligible Through Those Policies" (July 2010)