IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/uersrr/55839.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The WIC Program: Background, Trends, and Economic Issues, 2009 Edition

Author

Listed:
  • Oliveira, Victor
  • Frazao, Elizabeth

Abstract

The mission of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) is to safeguard the health of low-income women, infants, and children through age 4 who are at nutritional risk. WIC provides nutritious foods to supplement diets, nutrition education, and referrals to health care and other social services. Administered by USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), almost half of all infants and about a quarter of all children ages 1-4 in the United States participate in the program. WIC is USDA’s third-largest food and nutrition assistance program, accounting for 10 percent of total Federal spending on food and nutrition assistance. This report describes the WIC program—how it works, its history, program trends, and the characteristics of the population it serves. It also examines current issues facing WIC, focusing mainly on those with important economic implications.

Suggested Citation

  • Oliveira, Victor & Frazao, Elizabeth, 2009. "The WIC Program: Background, Trends, and Economic Issues, 2009 Edition," Economic Research Report 55839, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:uersrr:55839
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.55839
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/55839/files/ERR73.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.55839?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Oliveira, Victor & Davis, David E., 2006. "Recent Trends and Economic Issues in the WIC Infant Formula Rebate Program," MPRA Paper 6657, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Herman, D.R. & Harrison, G.G. & Afifi, A.A. & Jenks, E., 2008. "Effect of a targeted subsidy on intake of fruits and vegetables among low-income women in the special supplemental nutrition program for women, infants, and children," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 98(1), pages 98-105.
    3. Bell, Loren & Ledsky, Rebecca & Silva, Sandra & Anthony, Jodi, 2007. "An Assessment of the Impact of Medicaid Managed Care on WIC Program Coordination With Primary Care Services," Contractor and Cooperator Reports 292008, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    4. Weimer, Jon P., 2001. "The Economic Benefits of Breastfeeding," Food Review/ National Food Review, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, vol. 24(2), pages 1-4.
    5. repec:mpr:mprres:4560 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Ted Joyce & Andrew Racine & Cristina Yunzal-Butler, 2008. "Reassessing the WIC effect: Evidence from the Pregnancy Nutrition Surveillance System," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(2), pages 277-303.
    7. repec:mpr:mprres:4039 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Committee to Review the WIC Food Packages of which Barbara L. Devaney is a member, "undated". "WIC Food Packages: Time for a Change," Mathematica Policy Research Reports 989d259284974842a250546c8, Mathematica Policy Research.
    9. Weimer, Jon P., 2001. "The Economic Benefits Of Breastfeeding: A Review And Analysis," Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Reports 33813, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jackson, Margot I. & Mayne, Patrick, 2016. "Child access to the nutritional safety net during and after the Great Recession: The case of WIC," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 170(C), pages 197-207.
    2. Han, Euna & Powell, Lisa M. & Isgor, Zeynep, 2012. "Supplemental nutrition assistance program and body weight outcomes: The role of economic contextual factors," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(12), pages 1874-1881.
    3. Katherine Meckel, 2020. "Is the Cure Worse Than the Disease? Unintended Effects of Payment Reform in a Quantity-Based Transfer Program," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 110(6), pages 1821-1865, June.
    4. Hinnosaar, Marit, 2018. "How long do healthy habits last? The role of prices," CEPR Discussion Papers 12815, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    5. Jackson, Margot I., 2015. "Early childhood WIC participation, cognitive development and academic achievement," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 145-153.
    6. Tina L. Saitone & Richard J. Sexton & Richard J. Volpe, 2015. "A Wicked Problem? Cost Containment in the Women, Infants and Children Program," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 37(3), pages 378-402.
    7. Kinsey, Jean D., 2013. "The economics of federal food programs: Weighing the costs and benefits," C-FARE Reports 156193, Council on Food, Agricultural, and Resource Economics (C-FARE).
    8. Lisa M. Powell & Frank J. Chaloupka, 2011. "Economic Contextual Factors and Child Body Mass Index," NBER Chapters, in: Economic Aspects of Obesity, pages 127-144, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Jennifer J. Quinlan, 2013. "Foodborne Illness Incidence Rates and Food Safety Risks for Populations of Low Socioeconomic Status and Minority Race/Ethnicity: A Review of the Literature," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-19, August.
    10. Hoynes, Hilary & Page, Marianne & Stevens, Ann Huff, 2011. "Can targeted transfers improve birth outcomes?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(7), pages 813-827.
    11. Hodges, Leslie & Toossi, Saied & Todd, Jessica E. & Ryan-Claytor, Cayley, 2024. "The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC): Background, Trends, and Economic Issues, 2024 Edition," Economic Information Bulletin 341637, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    12. Thesia I. Garner & Charles Hokayem, 2012. "Supplemental Poverty Measure Thresholds: Imputing School Lunch and WIC Benefits to the Consumer Expenditure Survey Using the Current Population Survey," Working Papers 457, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
    13. Todd, Jessica E. & Newman, Constance & Ver Ploeg, Michele, 2010. "Changing Participation in Food Assistance Programs Among Low-Income Children After Welfare Reform," Economic Research Report 58613, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    14. Dong, Diansheng & Stewart, Hayden & Frazão, Elizabeth & Carlson, Andrea & Hyman, Jeffrey, 2016. "WIC Household Food Purchases Using WIC Benefits or Paying Out of Pocket: A Case Study of Cold Cereal Purchases," Economic Research Report 262197, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Oliveira, Victor, 2007. "Informing Food and Nutrition Assistance Policy: 10 Years of Research at ERS," Miscellaneous Publications 262274, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    2. Oliveira, Victor & Frazao, Elizabeth, 2015. "The WIC Program: Background, Trends, and Economic Issues, 2015 Edition," Economic Information Bulletin 197543, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    3. Anastasia Tzelali & Stamatios Petousis & Chrysoula Margioula-Siarkou & Panagiotis Christidis & Apostolos Athanasiadis & George Mavromatidis, 2018. "Prenatal Care Program: an Important Intervention that Needs to be Evaluated," Global Journal of Reproductive Medicine, Juniper Publishers Inc., vol. 4(2), pages 32-33, April.
    4. Payton, Colleen & Romney, Martha & Olson, Beth H. & Abatemarco, Diane J. & LaNoue, Marianna & Leader, Amy E., 2019. "Evaluation of workplace lactation support among employers in two Pennsylvania cities," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 62(5), pages 579-587.
    5. Aoife Brick & Anne Nolan, 2014. "Maternal Country of Birth Differences in Breastfeeding at Hospital Discharge in Ireland," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 45(4), pages 455-484.
    6. Marian E. Davidove & Joseph W. Dorsey, 2019. "Breastfeeding: A Cornerstone of Healthy Sustainable Diets," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(18), pages 1-6, September.
    7. Atsbeha, Daniel Muluwork & Nayga, Rodolfo M. & Rickertsen, Kyrre, 2015. "Can prolonged breastfeeding duration impair child growth? Evidence from rural Ethiopia," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 46-53.
    8. Prell, Mark & Smallwood, David, 2017. "Comparing Alternative Economic Mechanisms To Increase Fruit and Vegetable Purchases," Economic Information Bulletin 256715, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    9. Hope Corman & Dhaval Dave & Nancy E. Reichman, 2018. "Evolution of the Infant Health Production Function," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 85(1), pages 6-47, July.
    10. Yonatan Ben-Shalom & Mary Kay Fox & P.K. Newby, "undated". "Characteristics and Dietary Patterns of Healthy and Less-Healthy Eaters in the Low-Income Population," Mathematica Policy Research Reports c1f41b94fe40412fb98089df5, Mathematica Policy Research.
    11. Bersak, Tim & Sonchak-Ardan, Lyudmyla, 2021. "Marginal changes, marginal impacts: The limits of changes to WIC and their ability to influence breastfeeding rates," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    12. Wen You & Paul D. Mitchell & Rodolfo M. Nayga, 2012. "Improving Food Choices Among Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Recipients," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 21(7), pages 852-864, July.
    13. repec:mpr:mprres:5513 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Kinsey, Jean D., 2013. "The economics of federal food programs: Weighing the costs and benefits," C-FARE Reports 156193, Council on Food, Agricultural, and Resource Economics (C-FARE).
    15. Clive R. Belfield & Inas Rashad Kelly, 2012. "The Benefits of Breast Feeding across the Early Years of Childhood," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 6(3), pages 251-277.
    16. Andrew S. Hanks & Carolyn Gunther & Dean Lillard & Robert L. Scharff, 2018. "From Paper to Plastic: Understanding the Impact of eWIC on WIC Recipient Behavior," NBER Working Papers 25131, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Weimer, Jon P., 2001. "The Economic Benefits of Breastfeeding," Food Review/ National Food Review, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, vol. 24(2), pages 1-4.
    18. Hanks, Andrew S. & Gunther, Carolyn & Lillard, Dean & Scharff, Robert L., 2016. "From Paper to Plastic: Understanding the Impact of EBT on WIC Recipient Behavior," 2017 Allied Social Sciences Association (ASSA) Annual Meeting, January 6-8, 2017, Chicago, Illinois 251834, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    19. Stefania Albanesi & Claudia Olivetti, 2016. "Gender Roles and Medical Progress," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 124(3), pages 650-695.
    20. Kreider, Brent & Pepper, John V. & Roy, Manan, 2018. "Does the Women, Infants, and Children Program (WIC) Improve Infant Health Outcomes?," ISU General Staff Papers 201805010700001055, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    21. Iana A. Castro & Anuja Majmundar & Christine B. Williams & Barbara Baquero, 2018. "Customer Purchase Intentions and Choice in Food Retail Environments: A Scoping Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-19, November.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ags:uersrr:55839. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ersgvus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.