Saied Toossi

Research Agricultural Economist
saied.toossi@usda.gov

Briefly

Saied Toossi is a research agricultural economist with the Food Assistance Branch of the Food Economics Division in the USDA’s Economic Research Service. His research focuses on USDA’s child nutrition programs and examines trends in program participation and expenditures, the determinants of program participation, and the impact of these programs on children’s well-being.

Education

Saied holds a doctorate degree in public administration from Syracuse University and a master’s degree in economics from Northern Illinois University.

Selected Publications

Toossi, S. (2024). The effect of universal free school meals on children’s food hardship. Food Policy, 124, 102606.

Toossi, S. (2023). Cost of school meals and households’ difficulty paying for expenses: Evidence from the Household Pulse Survey (EB–37). U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.

Toossi, S. (2023). The distribution of and access to free meal sites serving school aged children during the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from Texas. Journal of School Health, 93(5), 395–401.

Toossi, S. (2022). Think of the children? The effect of children on support for welfare. Public Opinion Quarterly, 86(1), 176–190.

Toossi, S. (2017). Incentivizing healthy eating in children: An investigation of the “ripple” and “temporal” effects of a reward-based intervention. Appetite, 117, 58–66.

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC): Background, Trends, and Economic Issues, 2024 Edition U.S. Agricultural Policy Review, 2022 Cost of School Meals and Households’ Difficulty Paying for Expenses: Evidence From the Household Pulse Survey The Food and Nutrition Assistance Landscape: Fiscal Year 2022 Annual Report U.S. Agricultural Policy Review, 2021

See all

One-Third of Households With Children Paying for School Meals Reported That Doing So Contributed to Financial Hardship U.S. Food and Nutrition Assistance Programs Continued To Respond to Economic and Public Health Conditions in Fiscal Year 2022 Pandemic-Related Program Changes Continued to Shape the U.S. Food and Nutrition Assistance Landscape in Fiscal Year 2021 Free Meal Sites Expanded Rapidly To Provide Meals to Children During the Early Months of the Pandemic Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic Transformed the U.S. Federal Food and Nutrition Assistance Landscape

Child Nutrition Programs