Table 3.
Effects of WIC Clinic Access in ZIP Code of Residence on WIC Food Receipt
| Dependent Variable: Mother Received WIC Food During Pregnancy
| |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All Texas Singleton Births | Texas Sibling Singleton Births | ||||||||
|
| |||||||||
| (1) | (2) | (3) | (4) | (5) | (6) | (7) | (8) | (9) | |
|
| |||||||||
| Zip FE | Zip FE and County Time Trends | Zip FE | Zip FE and County Time Trends | Mother FE | IV-Mother FE, No Controls | IV-Mother FE | IV-Mother FE; HS Education or Less at Time of First Birth | IV-Mother FE; College-Educated at Time of First Birth | |
| Mean of Dependent Variable | 0.537 | 0.537 | 0.556 | 0.556 | 0.556 | 0.556 | 0.556 | 0.740 | 0.072 |
| Any WIC Clinic in Zip Code of Residence During Pregnancy | 0.0147** (0.0075) | 0.0148** (0.0074) | 0.0221** (0.0084) | 0.0220** (0.0083) | 0.0075** (0.0023) | 0.0317** (0.0140) | 0.0308** (0.0138) | 0.0443** (0.0185) | −0.0053 (0.0137) |
| Mother’s Age <20 | 0.1691*** (0.0100) | 0.1692*** (0.0100) | 0.1788*** (0.0287) | 0.1776*** (0.0287) | 0.0185 (0.0468) | 0.0181 (0.0359) | −0.0569 (0.0924) | ||
| Mother’s Age 20–24 | 0.1499*** (0.0098) | 0.1499*** (0.0098) | 0.1631*** (0.0286) | 0.1619*** (0.0286) | −0.0121 (0.0467) | −0.0125 (0.0357) | −0.0890 (0.0922) | 0.0337 (0.0254) | |
| Mother’s Age 25–34 | 0.0676*** (0.0096) | 0.0677*** (0.0096) | 0.0940*** (0.0284) | 0.0929** (0.0285) | −0.0130 (0.0466) | −0.0133 (0.0357) | −0.0793 (0.0922) | 0.0141 (0.0240) | |
| Mother’s Age 35–44 | 0.0285** (0.0096) | 0.0286** (0.0096) | 0.0672** (0.0284) | 0.0661** (0.0284) | 0.0125 (0.0463) | 0.0121 (0.0354) | −0.0291 (0.0918) | 0.0165 (0.0237) | |
| Mother’s Ed: <HS | 0.3475*** (0.0035) | 0.3469*** (0.0035) | 0.3784*** (0.0043) | 0.3776*** (0.0043) | 0.0678*** (0.0077) | 0.0678*** (0.0063) | 0.0561*** (0.0159) | ||
| Mother’s Ed: HS degree | 0.3211*** (0.0043) | 0.3203*** (0.0043) | 0.3540*** (0.0049) | 0.3532*** (0.0049) | 0.0801*** (0.0073) | 0.0802*** (0.0060) | 0.0670*** (0.0161) | ||
| Mother’s Ed: Some College | 0.1871*** (0.0045) | 0.1868*** (0.0045) | 0.2152*** (0.0054) | 0.2148*** (0.0054) | 0.0517*** (0.0068) | 0.0517*** (0.0056) | 0.0274+ (0.0164) | ||
| Mother is Married | −0.1185*** (0.0030) | −0.1183*** (0.0030) | −0.1007*** (0.0032) | −0.1006*** (0.0032) | −0.0431*** (0.0034) | −0.0430*** (0.0028) | −0.0288*** (0.0031) | −0.1154*** (0.0147) | |
| Mother is Non-Hispanic White | −0.0499*** (0.0027) | −0.0499*** (0.0027) | −0.0484*** (0.0038) | −0.0483*** (0.0038) | |||||
| Mother is Black | 0.0924*** (0.0034) | 0.0921*** (0.0034) | 0.0799*** (0.0045) | 0.0796*** (0.0045) | |||||
| Mother is Hispanic | 0.1339*** (0.0034) | 0.1333*** (0.0034) | 0.1290*** (0.0040) | 0.1285*** (0.0040) | |||||
| N | 1,918,123 | 1,918,123 | 607,002 | 607,002 | 607,002 | 607,002 | 607,002 | 366,865 | 107,175 |
Notes: Each column is a separate regression. The sample is limited to singleton births with mothers that reside in Texas over 2005–2009. Births with missing gestation length or gestation less than 26 weeks are omitted. Columns 3–9 additionally limit the sample to sibling births only. In columns 3–9, for each outcome, births by mothers who have at most one child with non-missing data for that outcome are omitted. Exposure to a WIC clinic is calculated by considering length of pregnancy from the time of conception (estimated using the child’s birth date and gestation length). Unless otherwise noted, all regressions include fixed effects for birth order, birth year, and birth month. The first 4 columns present results from OLS regressions that include ZIP code fixed effects. Columns 2 and 4 add county-specific linear time trends. Column 5 presents results from regressions with mother fixed effects. Columns 6–9 present results from regressions with mother fixed effects where the key variable of interest is instrumented by an indicator for any WIC clinic during the current pregnancy assuming it had lasted 39 weeks and assuming that the mother remained at her first pregnancy ZIP code. Column 6 omits controls for maternal and child demographics and birth order, while column 7 includes all of the controls. Columns 8–9 limit the sample to mothers who at the time of the first birth had a high school education or less, and had a college degree or more, respectively. In columns 1–5, robust standard errors are clustered on the mother’s current ZIP code of residence. In columns 6–9, robust standard errors are clustered on the mother’s ZIP code of residence at the time of the first birth.
Significance levels:
p<0.10
p<0.05
p<0.001