A Propensity Score Approach to Investigate the Spillover Effects of a Public Investment Program on Child Nutritional Outcomes

Child poverty can have numerous deleterious effects on children’s health and development, which can have enduring implications on well-being throughout the life course. In the United States, there are several public investment programs that target the low-income children to ameliorate the negative effects of poverty. For example, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), the focus of this study, specifically targets low-income prenatal women, infants, and children under the age of 5 who are at risk of inadequate nutrition. While many studies have examined the effects of WIC of child well-being, most studies fail to account for selection into WIC participation, which in turn may overestimate or underestimate the true treatment effects of the program. Selection bias is an inherent feature of most, if not all, government program evaluation studies. In this study, I will further investigate whether there are spillover effects of WIC benefits where there is an eligible child and an ineligible child in the same household. I will use propensity scores to adjust for selection bias, thereby demonstrating a more robust method that can be employed in evaluating the effectiveness of public investment programs, not only in the United States, but internationally.