Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/215353 
Year of Publication: 
2020
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 12957
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
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.
Subjects: 
WIC program
benefit take-up
in-kind transfers
cost containment
JEL: 
H40
I18
I38
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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