Within-Mother Estimates of the Effects of WIC on Birth Outcomes in New York City

Economic Inquiry
Janet Currie, Ishita Rajani

Abstract

There is a large literature suggesting that "WIC works" to improve birth outcomes. However, methodological limitations related to selection into the WIC program have left room for doubt about this conclusion. This paper uses birth records from New York City to address some limitations of the previous literature. We estimate models with mother fixed effects to control for fixed characteristics of mothers and we directly investigate the way that time-varying characteristics of mothers affect selection into the WIC program. We find that WIC is associated with reductions in low birth weight, even among full term infants, and with reductions in the probability that a child is "small for dates." These improvements are associated with a reduction in the probability that the mother gained too little weight during pregnancy. Improvements tend to be largest for first born children. We also find that women on WIC are more likely to be diagnosed with chronic conditions, and receive more intensive medical services, a finding that may reflect improved access to medical care.

References

May 26, 2004·Pediatric Clinics of North America·Joan L Nold, Michael K Georgieff
Dec 9, 2004·Journal of Policy Analysis and Management : [the Journal of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management]·Marianne P Bitler, Janet Currie
Oct 6, 2005·Journal of Policy Analysis and Management : [the Journal of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management]·Ted JoyceSilvie Colman
Oct 6, 2005·Journal of Policy Analysis and Management : [the Journal of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management]·Jens Ludwig, Matthew Miller
Apr 12, 2008·Journal of Policy Analysis and Management : [the Journal of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management]·Ted JoyceCristina Yunzal-Butler
Sep 18, 2013·Journal of Public Economics·Maya Rossin-Slater

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Citations

Dec 2, 2017·Health Services Research·Tim Bersak, Lyudmyla Sonchak
Mar 16, 2016·Maternal and Child Health Journal·Lyudmyla Sonchak
Aug 31, 2017·Nature Communications·Ashley E LarsenOlivier Deschênes
May 17, 2019·American Journal of Epidemiology·Rita HamadFrances A Tylavsky
Jul 25, 2021·International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health·Katelin M Hudak, Sara E Benjamin-Neelon
Aug 28, 2021·International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health·Arezoo RojhaniTaylor Marie Dale

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