WIC Online Grocery Orders and Redemption Rates

The primary goal of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) is to improve the health outcomes of low-income individuals and families by allowing them to afford nutritious food. Policymakers have called for lowering shopping burdens through expanding digital access via online redemption of WIC benefits and grocery delivery, and the program is currently working to implement online ordering using WIC benefits. Economists Stacy Dickert-Conlin, Michael Conlin, and Katie Harris-Lagoudakis propose to analyze the effect of allowing WIC online ordering on WIC redemption as a new online ordering program is rolled out in Michigan. The investigators hypothesize that access to online ordering will increase WIC redemption by lowering the marginal cost of redeeming WIC benefits and that access to online ordering will increase purchases related to WIC-eligible foods.