David Betson The contested values and political. Impact of the WIC Program on the Infant Formula Market, Contractor and Cooperator Report No. Wilber on the occasion of his retirement from the Department of Economics at the University of Notre Dame. This project will address three research questions: 1) What determines who wins a WIC rebate contract in a State? 2) What determines the variation in the size of the rebate? and 3) What is the effect of WIC rebate program on the wholesale price of infant formula? State contracts and IRI retail prices for local markets from 1994 to 2002 will be used in the analyses.īetson, D. Given the magnitude of the rebates, it is important to understand the determinants of rebate bids by the manufacturers. Currently, the rebates range from 85 percent to 98 percent of the wholesale price of infant formula.

The amount of the rebates is not uniform across States. In 2001, rebates totaled almost $1.6 billion. In exchange for the rebates, the manufacturers are given exclusive rights to provide infant formula to WIC participants. Project: WIC and the Economics of Infant Formula Contracts, Rebates, and Wholesale Pricesĭetailed Objective: Federal law requires that WIC State agencies have competitively bid infant formula rebate contracts with formula manufacturers.

Food and Nutrition Assistance Research Reports Database.

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