RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Efficiency Versus Equity in the Provision of In-Kind Benefits: Evidence from Cost Containment in the California WIC Program
JF Journal of Human Resources
JO J Hum Resour
FD University of Wisconsin Press
SP 0120-10677R1
DO 10.3368/jhr.58.4.0120-10677R1
A1 Katherine Meckel
A1 Maya Rossin-Slater
A1 Lindsey Uniat
YR 2021
UL http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/early/2021/02/03/jhr.58.4.0120-10677R1.abstract
AB The government often contracts with private firms to deliver in-kind safety net benefits. These public-private partnerships generate agency problems that could increase costs, but cost-containment reforms may discourage firm participation. We study a 2012 reform of California’s Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children that reduced the number of small vendors. We show that within-ZIP-code access to small vendors increases take-up among first-time and foreign-born mothers, suggesting that small vendors are distinctly effective at lowering take-up barriers among women with high program learning costs. Thus, cost containment reforms may have unintended consequences of inequitably reducing program access.