Efficiency Versus Equity in the Provision of In-Kind Benefits: Evidence from Cost Containment in the California WIC Program

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 reduced the number small vendors. show within-ZIP-code access vendors increases take-up among first-time foreign-born mothers, suggesting are distinctly effective at lowering barriers women high program learning costs. Thus, cost containment have unintended consequences inequitably reducing access.