PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Katherine Meckel AU - Maya Rossin-Slater AU - Lindsey Uniat TI - Efficiency versus Equity in the Provision of In-Kind Benefits AID - 10.3368/jhr.58.4.0120-10677R1 DP - 2023 Mar 01 TA - Journal of Human Resources PG - 363--392 VI - 58 IP - 2 4099 - http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/58/2/363.short 4100 - http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/58/2/363.full SO - J Hum Resour2023 Mar 01; 58 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.