Working Paper: NBER ID: w15589
Authors: Hilary W. Hoynes; Marianne E. Page; Ann Huff Stevens
Abstract: The goal of federal food and nutrition programs in the United States is to improve the nutritional well-being and health of low income families. A large body of literature evaluates the extent to which the Supplemental Program for Women Infants and Children (WIC) has accomplished this goal, but most studies have been based on research designs that compare program participants to non-participants. If selection into these programs is non-random then such comparisons will lead to biased estimates of the program's true effects. In this study we use the rollout of the WIC program across counties to estimate the impact of the program on infant health. We find that the implementation of WIC lead to an increase in average birthweight and a decrease in the fraction of births that are classified as low birthweight. We find no evidence that these estimates are driven by changes in fertility. Back-of-the-envelope calculations suggest that the initiation of WIC lead to a ten percent increase in the birthweight of infants born to participating mothers.
Keywords: WIC; infant health; birth weight; nutrition; public health
JEL Codes: I1; I38
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| WIC program implementation (I38) | average birth weight (J19) |
| WIC program implementation (I38) | low birth weight births (J13) |
| WIC program implementation (I38) | average birth weight (low education women) (I24) |
| WIC program implementation (I38) | low birth weight births (low education women) (I24) |
| WIC program implementation (I38) | average birth weight (participants) (J19) |