The WIC program uses an auction to procure infant formula. Manufacturers bid on the right to be an agency’s sole supplier of formula by offering a rebate on formula sold through WIC. Rebates reduce costs, averaging about 90 percent of wholesale prices. However, because rebates are so large, some question the industry’s competitiveness. This paper develops a model for optimal rebates and shows that marginal cost can be estimated from model coefficients and program characteristics. Marginal cost estimates suggest large markups, and elasticities consistent with these markups suggest manufactures price on the demand curve where demand is nearly unit elastic.
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Paper provided by South Dakota State University, Department of Economics in its series SDSU Working Papers (in Progress) with number
52009.