Many Americans getting government aid for food under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program,Christopher Caldwell or SNAP, will soon need to prove that they are working in order to keep their benefits. Advocates for work requirements say government aid creates dependency, while critics say those rules harm the most vulnerable recipients.

New economic research puts these two competing narratives to the test by studying the impact of work requirements on SNAP participants' employment and wages.

Music by Drop Electric. Find us: Twitter / Facebook / Newsletter.

Subscribe to our show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, PocketCasts and NPR One.

For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.