A recent report co-authored by Prof. Donald Shepard (Heller) and Elizabeth Setren '10, titled "Hunger in America: Suffering We All Pay For," estimates that the cost of hunger to the U.S. is $167.5 billion per year.

The report was released in October by the Center for American Progress, an organization "dedicated to improving the lives of Americans through progressive ideas and action" through "dialogue with leaders, thinkers, and citizens," according to its website. Donna Cooper, a senior fellow with the Economic Policy team at American Progress, co-authored the report with Shepard and Setren.

According to Setren, Farhad Farewar and Godfrey Mudariki, both in the Master of Science International Health Policy and Management program, also contributed research to the report.

According to the report, the calculation of the cost of hunger in the U.S., called the "hunger bill," is based on "the combination of lost economic productivity per year, more expensive public education because of the rising costs of poor education outcomes, avoidable health care costs and the cost of charity to keep families fed." It does not include federal nutrition programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

The nation's total hunger bill in 2010 breaks down to approximately $542 per person, or $1,410 per household, according to the report. These costs, it says, are reflected in "taxes, our contributions to charities that address hunger, and the costs paid directly and indirectly for the poor health condition of those who are hungry and their lower productivity."

The report also shows that the cost of hunger has increased nationally by 33.4 percent since 1997, with the highest increases occurring in Florida, California and Maryland. Every state received a rising hunger bill.

Massachusetts has the ninth-highest increase in its hunger bill from 2007 to 2010 with a 37.7 percent increase, the report says.

The report is a follow-up to a 2007 report, also co-authored by Shepard and sponsored primarily by the Sodexo Foundation, an organization that, according to its website, "supports innovative programs to help children and families in the United States who are at-risk of hunger." The 2007 report estimates the 2007 hunger bill to be $90 billion.

Quoting the original 2007 report, the 2010 report states that "[t]he nation pays far more by letting hunger exist than it would if our leaders took steps to eliminate it."

This most recent report proposes that policy approaches "that rely on a mix of federal policies to boost the wages of the lowest-wage earners, increase access to full-time employment, and modestly expand federal nutrition programs" could help to lower the hunger bill.

In an interview with the Justice, Setren said that the most recent report was written in response to the financial crisis. "We thought it was important to update the study to show the extent of the problem and the implications it has on healthcare costs … for many people in this country," she said.

"Ultimately the value of estimating the cost of hunger is that is shows most likely that there are definitely more cost-effective solutions than we're doing now," Setren said. The numbers are also conservative estimates, she said, and likely don't reflect "the full extent of the impact."

In an email to the Justice, Shepard said that the report was compiled from "secondary data analysis from published studies, reports and data sets on the web, and expert opinion."

"We hope that decision makers, particularly in the federal government, will be more aware of the problem of hunger and help solve it," he wrote. "I believe the solution entails job creation and continued funding of SNAP."