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WIC PARTICIPATION AND MATERNAL BEHAVIOR: BREASTFEEDING AND WORK LEAVE
Author(s) -
Bullinger Lindsey Rose,
GurleyCalvez Tami
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
contemporary economic policy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.454
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1465-7287
pISSN - 1074-3529
DOI - 10.1111/coep.12123
Subject(s) - breastfeeding , instrumental variable , work (physics) , duration (music) , selection bias , demographic economics , selection (genetic algorithm) , identification (biology) , parental leave , psychology , economics , set (abstract data type) , variable (mathematics) , econometrics , medicine , statistics , pediatrics , computer science , mathematics , mechanical engineering , art , mathematical analysis , botany , literature , artificial intelligence , engineering , biology , programming language
We examine the effects of the Women, Infants, and Children ( WIC ) Program on breastfeeding outcomes and maternal employment decisions. This research expands the existing literature using an alternative identification strategy and a broader set of outcomes. Using data from the Infant Feeding Practices Study II , we control for selection bias into WIC using the variation in food prices as an instrumental variable. The results of this study are robust to a number of specification and falsification tests. We find WIC decreases exclusive breastfeeding by nearly 50% and increases work leave duration by over 20%. ( JEL I18, I38)