President Carter proclaimed a war on fraud and error in the food stamp program as part of a more general concern with the mismanagement of social programs. He succeeded in reversing
the increase in the number of households classified as receiving both too many and too few food
stamps, and he also increased the percentage of eligible households that actually received
stamps. An even more visible war against fraud and abuse was pursued in the first Reagan
administration. This resulted in a decrease in the number of cases being paid too much, but no
such decrease in the number paid too little. The percentage of eligible households receiving food
stamps also decreased, and there was a rapid increase in the number of fraud cases detected
and prosecuted. However, conflicts emerged in the first Reagan term between federal and state
governments about who should bear the financial costs of the war on error and fraud. The second
Reagan term resulted in few changes in error and fraud compared to what was found at the end
of his first term, and the level of rhetoric about "fraud and abuse" decreased markedly. However,
the data available on fraud and abuse deal only with detected frauds. Hence we cannot say with
any certainty whether fraud actually decreased m the food stamp program during either the
Carter or the Reagan years.
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