Yoon Y Choi, Alexis Ludwig, Tatiana Andreyeva, Jennifer L Harris
Journal of public health policy 2020 SepThe United States (US) Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) provides free infant formula to low-income families with infants. State WIC agencies periodically solicit bids from manufacturers for the exclusive contract to provide infant formula in exchange for considerable rebates. Using Nielsen 2006-2015 retail scanner data, we estimated a difference-in-difference model to examine how winning a WIC infant formula contract affects sales of the new (winning) and former brands, including effects on sales of products not eligible for WIC (spillover). One year following a contract change, volume sales of WIC infant formula increased 322% (pā<ā0.01) for the new brand and decreased 77% (pā<ā0.01) for the former brand. Spillover effects included a 43% increase in sales of toddler milks for the new brand 2 years after the contract change. State WIC contracts allow manufacturers to market formula directly to consumers and may reduce breastfeeding policy effectiveness.
Yoon Y Choi, Alexis Ludwig, Tatiana Andreyeva, Jennifer L Harris. Effects of United States WIC infant formula contracts on brand sales of infant formula and toddler milks. Journal of public health policy. 2020 Sep;41(3):303-320
PMID: 32355331
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