WIC and the Retail Price of Infant Formula

Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Report No. (FANRR-39-1) 106 pp, June 2004

Rebates from infant formula manufacturers to State agencies that administer the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) support over one-quarter of all WIC participants. However, concerns have been raised that WIC and its infant formula rebate program may significantly affect the infant formula prices faced by non-WIC consumers. This report presents findings from the most comprehensive national study of infant formula prices at the retail level. For a given set of wholesale prices, WIC and its infant formula rebate program resulted in modest increases in the supermarket price of infant formula, especially in States with a high percentage of WIC formula-fed infants. However, lower priced infant formulas are available to non-WIC consumers in most areas of the country, and the number of these lower priced alternatives is increasing over time.

Keywords: WIC program, cost-containment, food-item restrictions, vendor restrictions, manufacturers rebates, food package costs, Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, child nutrition, FANRP, food assistance

In this publication...

• Research brief,   59 kb | HTML
• Abstract, Acknowledgments, Contents, Summary, Definitions,   501 kb
• Introduction,   70 kb
• Overview of the WIC Program,   76 kb
• The WIC Infant Formula Rebate Program,   556 kb
• The Domestic Infant Formula Market,   85 kb
• Source of Infant Formula Data,   163 kb
• Infant Formula Trends,   87 kb
• Infant Formula Prices and Availability by Market Area,   474 kb
• Event Study Analysis of Retail Infant Formula Prices,   73 kb
• Multivariate Analysis of the Determinants of Retail Infant Formula Prices ,   114 kb
• Discussion,   71 kb
• Conclusions,   52 kb
• References,   46 kb
• Appendix A,   63 kb
• Appendix B,   80 kb
• Appendix C,   89 kb
• Appendix D,   89 kb
• Appendix E,   51 kb
• Entire document,   1,950 kb

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See also: An Economic Model of WIC, the Infant Formula Rebate Program, and the Retail Price of Infant Formula.

Last updated: Tuesday, June 12, 2012

For more information contact: Victor Oliveira, Mark Prell, David Smallwood, and Elizabeth Frazao