TY  - JOUR
AU  - Racine,Andrew D.
AU  - Yunzal-Butler,Cristina
TI  - Reassessing the WIC Effect: Evidence from the Pregnancy Nutrition Surveillance System
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 13441
PY  - 2007
Y2  - September 2007
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w13441
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w13441.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Andrew D. Racine
Albert Einstein College of Medicine Children's Hos
Division of General Pediatrics
1621 Eastchester Road
Bronx, NY 10461
Tel: 718/405-8092
Fax: 212/817-1597
E-Mail: aracine@montefiore.org

Cristina Yunzal-Butler
Department of Economics (Alumnus)
Graduate Center, CUNY
365 Fifth Ave, 5th Fl
NY, NY  10016
E-Mail: cyunzal@gc.cuny.edu
AB  - Recent analyses differ on how effective the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) is at improving infant health.  We use data from nine states that participate in the Pregnancy Nutrition Surveillance System to address limitations in previous work.  With information on the mother's timing of WIC enrollment, we test whether greater exposure to WIC is associated with less smoking, improved weight gain during pregnancy, better birth outcomes, and greater likelihood of  breastfeeding.  Our results suggest that much of the often-reported association between WIC and lower rates of preterm birth is likely spurious, the result of gestational age bias.  We find modest effects of WIC on fetal growth, inconsistent associations between WIC and smoking, limited associations with gestational weight gain, and some relationship with breast feeding. A WIC effect exists, but on fewer margins and with less impact than has been claimed by policy analysts and advocates.
ER  -