IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/hlthec/v31y2022i4p664-685.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The effect of aging out of the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program on food insecurity

Author

Listed:
  • Seung Jin Cho

Abstract

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) are designed to increase food security and reduce hunger for children from low‐income households. Since the cutoff age for WIC is five, and school enrollment is required for receiving free or reduced‐price NSLP, some children from low‐income households cannot receive both WIC and free or reduced‐price NSLP. Using data from the Current Population Survey, the partial identification method developed in this paper addresses the problems of self‐selection into WIC and systematic underreporting of program participation. Due to this loophole in food assistance programs for children, aging out of WIC is found to increase child food insecurity by at least 1.1 percentage points. This result indicates that the prevalence of child food insecurity would decline by 15% if WIC extended its cutoff age until children enroll in kindergarten.

Suggested Citation

  • Seung Jin Cho, 2022. "The effect of aging out of the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program on food insecurity," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(4), pages 664-685, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:hlthec:v:31:y:2022:i:4:p:664-685
    DOI: 10.1002/hec.4470
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/hec.4470
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/hec.4470?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. Charles F. Manski, 1997. "Monotone Treatment Response," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 65(6), pages 1311-1334, November.
    2. Jacknowitz, Alison & Tiehen, Laura, 2010. "WIC Participation Patterns: An Investigation of Delayed Entry and Early Exit," Economic Research Report 102759, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    3. Dharmasena, Senarath & Bessler, David A. & Capps, Oral, 2016. "Food environment in the United States as a complex economic system," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 163-175.
    4. Oliveira, Victor & Gundersen, Craig, 2000. "Wic And The Nutrient Intake Of Children," Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Reports 33803, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    5. Kreider, Brent & Pepper, John V., 2007. "Disability and Employment: Reevaluating the Evidence in Light of Reporting Errors," Journal of the American Statistical Association, American Statistical Association, vol. 102, pages 432-441, June.
    6. Arteaga, Irma & Heflin, Colleen, 2014. "Participation in the National School Lunch Program and food security: An analysis of transitions into kindergarten," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(P3), pages 224-230.
    7. Helen H. Jensen & Brent Kreider & Oleksandr Zhylyevskyy, 2019. "Investigating Treatment Effects of Participating Jointly in SNAP and WIC when the Treatment Is Validated Only for SNAP," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 86(1), pages 124-155, July.
    8. Bruce D. Meyer & Nikolas Mittag, 2019. "Misreporting of Government Transfers: How Important Are Survey Design and Geography?," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 86(1), pages 230-253, July.
    9. Guido W. Imbens & Charles F. Manski, 2004. "Confidence Intervals for Partially Identified Parameters," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 72(6), pages 1845-1857, November.
    10. Gundersen, Craig & Kreider, Brent & Pepper, John, 2012. "The impact of the National School Lunch Program on child health: A nonparametric bounds analysis," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 166(1), pages 79-91.
    11. Ralston, Katherine & Treen, Katie & Coleman-Jensen, Alisha & Guthrie, Joanne, 2017. "Children’s Food Security and USDA Child Nutrition Programs," Economic Information Bulletin 259730, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    12. Bruce D. Meyer & Wallace K. C. Mok & James X. Sullivan, 2015. "Household Surveys in Crisis," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 29(4), pages 199-226, Fall.
    13. Kyung Min Kang & Robert A. Moffitt, 2019. "The Effect of SNAP and School Food Programs on Food Security, Diet Quality, and Food Spending: Sensitivity to Program Reporting Error," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 86(1), pages 156-201, July.
    14. Coleman-Jensen, Alisha & Rabbitt, Matthew P. & Gregory, Christian A. & Singh, Anita, 2018. "Statistical Supplement to Household Food Security in the United States in 2017," Administrative Publications 292096, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    15. Charles F. Manski & John V. Pepper, 2000. "Monotone Instrumental Variables, with an Application to the Returns to Schooling," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 68(4), pages 997-1012, July.
    16. repec:mpr:mprres:7368 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Valizadeh, Pourya & Smith, Travis A., 2018. "Distributional Impacts of WIC on Dietary Quality of Children: Evidence from a Regression Discontinuity Design," 2018 Annual Meeting, August 5-7, Washington, D.C. 273904, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    18. Arteaga, Irma & Heflin, Colleen & Gable, Sara, 2016. "The impact of aging out of WIC on food security in households with children," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 82-96.
    19. Xia Si & Tammy Leonard, 2020. "Aging Out Of Women Infants And Children: An Investigation Of The Compensation Effect Of Private Nutrition Assistance Programs," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 58(1), pages 446-461, January.
    20. repec:wly:soecon:v:82:4:y:2016:p:1106-1122 is not listed on IDEAS
    21. repec:mpr:mprres:7369 is not listed on IDEAS
    22. Silvie Colman & Ira P. Nichols-Barrer & Julie E. Redline & Barbara L. Devaney & Sara V. Ansell & Ted Joyce, "undated". "Effects of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC): A Review of Recent Research," Mathematica Policy Research Reports 6062ed150f6b42a1bd0e9b5d6, Mathematica Policy Research.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Helen H. Jensen & Brent Kreider & Oleksandr Zhylyevskyy, 2019. "Investigating Treatment Effects of Participating Jointly in SNAP and WIC when the Treatment Is Validated Only for SNAP," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 86(1), pages 124-155, July.
    2. Brent Kreider & John V. Pepper & Manan Roy, 2020. "Does The Women, Infants, And Children Program Improve Infant Health Outcomes?," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 58(4), pages 1731-1756, October.
    3. 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.
    4. Brent Kreider & John V. Pepper & Manan Roy, 2016. "Identifying the Effects of WIC on Food Insecurity Among Infants and Children," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 82(4), pages 1106-1122, April.
    5. Tsunao Okumura & Emiko Usui, 2014. "Concave‐monotone treatment response and monotone treatment selection: With an application to the returns to schooling," Quantitative Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 5, pages 175-194, March.
    6. Monique De Haan & Edwin Leuven, 2020. "Head Start and the Distribution of Long-Term Education and Labor Market Outcomes," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 38(3), pages 727-765.
    7. Monique De Haan & Magnus Stubhaug, 2024. "The Causal Component in the Intergenerational Transmission of Income," CESifo Working Paper Series 11395, CESifo.
    8. Qian, Hang, 2011. "Bayesian inference with monotone instrumental variables," MPRA Paper 32672, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Gundersen, Craig & Kreider, Brent & Pepper, John, 2012. "The impact of the National School Lunch Program on child health: A nonparametric bounds analysis," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 166(1), pages 79-91.
    10. Marianne P. Bitler & Christian Gregory, 2019. "Food Access, Program Participation, and Health: Research Using FoodAPS," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 86(1), pages 9-17, July.
    11. Brent Kreider & John V. Pepper & Craig Gundersen & Dean Jolliffe, 2012. "Identifying the Effects of SNAP (Food Stamps) on Child Health Outcomes When Participation Is Endogenous and Misreported," Journal of the American Statistical Association, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 107(499), pages 958-975, September.
    12. Francesca Molinari, 2020. "Microeconometrics with Partial Identification," Papers 2004.11751, arXiv.org.
    13. Jensen, Helen H. & Kreider, Brent E. & Pepper, John V. & Zhylyevskyy, Oleksandr & Greder, Kimberly A., 2023. "Causal effects of mental health on food security," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    14. Daniel Millimet & Manan Roy, 2015. "Partial identification of the long-run causal effect of food security on child health," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 48(1), pages 83-141, February.
    15. Monique de Haan, 2011. "The Effect of Parents' Schooling on Child's Schooling: A Nonparametric Bounds Analysis," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 29(4), pages 859-892.
    16. Sianesi, Barbara, 2017. "Evidence of randomisation bias in a large-scale social experiment: The case of ERA," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 198(1), pages 41-64.
    17. Manan Roy, 2012. "Identifying the Effect of WIC on Infant Health When Participation is Endogenous and Misreported," Departmental Working Papers 1202, Southern Methodist University, Department of Economics.
    18. Aizawa, T.;, 2019. "Reviewing the Existing Evidence of the Conditional Cash Transfer in India through the Partial Identification Approach," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 19/24, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
    19. Brent Kreider & Richard J. Manski & John Moeller & John Pepper, 2015. "The Effect of Dental Insurance on the Use of Dental Care for Older Adults: A Partial Identification Analysis," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(7), pages 840-858, July.
    20. Wooyoung Kim & Koohyun Kwon & Soonwoo Kwon & Sokbae Lee, 2018. "The identification power of smoothness assumptions in models with counterfactual outcomes," Quantitative Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 9(2), pages 617-642, July.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:wly:hlthec:v:31:y:2022:i:4:p:664-685. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/jhome/5749 .

    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.