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Abstract
Only about 60% of eligible people participate in the Special Supplemental Nutrition
Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and evidence indicates that these
recipients do not claim all of the benefits available to them. Transaction costs and
negative stigma associated with participating in the program are likely to discourage
eligible people from enrolling, and enrollees from redeeming all of their benefits. As of
November 2016, sixteen states have implemented Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) for
WIC, potentially reducing the amount of time required for each transaction and making it
more difficult to identify beneficiaries. In this manuscript we analyze the impact the
transition to WIC EBT has on enrollment, WIC benefits redemption, and non-WIC food
expenditures using enrollment data for five states, and expenditure data for 17,714
households enrolled in WIC. We find no evidence that EBT increases the chance that
eligible people enroll in the WIC program. We do find evidence that WIC recipients
redeem more benefits two to four months after the transition, and there is no evidence
that they increase expenditures on non-WIC foods.