The impact of aging out of WIC on food security in households with children

Irma Arteaga, Colleen Heflin and Sara Gable

Children and Youth Services Review, 2016, vol. 69, issue C, 82-96

Abstract: Correlational research suggests that disadvantaged families with young children who are food insecure often participate in the Women Infants and Children program (WIC). While there has been a considerable amount of research on the association between WIC participation and food insecurity, these studies have reported mixed findings and do not explore the effects of WIC at a critical age, when children turn five years old. This paper estimates the effects of aging out of WIC on rates of household food insecurity using the exogenous rule that children are eligible for the WIC program until the day before they turn 61months old. Using a regression discontinuity design and the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study Birth-cohort dataset, we find that there is an increase in rates of food insecurity for children who become age-ineligible for WIC (i.e., reach 61months of age) and who have not yet started kindergarten. Furthermore, this effect is robust under different models, bandwidths and analytic samples.

Keywords: Food insecurity; Regression discontinuity design; Program evaluation; WIC (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:69:y:2016:i:c:p:82-96

DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2016.07.015

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