ECONOMIC REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT

document that desegregation of hospitals during the 1960s resulted in
increased hospital access for African-American families, dramatic improvements
in infant health for these families, and large declines in the racial gap
in infant mortality in the 1960s. Chay, Guryan, and Mazumder (2009) show
that these improvements in access to health care at birth and health soon
after birth led to large student achievement gains for African-American
teenagers in the 1980s, contributing to a reduction in the racial test score
gap. The researchers estimate that each additional early-life hospital admission
made possible by desegregation raised test scores by between 0.7 and
1 standard deviation—an effect that implies a very large impact on lifetime
earnings.
Nutrition Programs
WIC
The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and
Children (WIC) is an assistance program that supports the health and nutrition
of low-income pregnant and postpartum women, infants, and children
under the age of 5. More than 8 million people received WIC services in
FY 2014, including roughly 4 million children between 6 months and age
5, 2 million infants under 6 months, and 2 million mothers. WIC services
include health care referrals, nutrition education, and the provision of nutritious
foods to supplement the diets of both mothers and their children.
There is a robust literature on the impact that this comprehensive set of
WIC services has on participants. Earlier studies comparing birth outcomes
of women who participate in WIC to those of other low-income women with
similar characteristics document that participants give birth to healthier
babies as measured along several dimensions (Bitler and Currie 2005; Joyce,
Gibson, and Colman 2005). More recent studies using rigorous methods
confirm that WIC participation leads to improved birth outcomes. One such
study focuses on the program’s initial roll out, which was implemented in
stages at the county level between 1972 and 1979. Hoynes, Page, and Stevens
(2011) compare birth information from the Vital Statistics Natality Data
among children who were born at similar times, but in different counties,
and therefore had different in utero exposure to WIC. These results suggest
that access to WIC increased birth weight among children born to mothers
who participated in WIC from the third trimester by around 10 percent, and
effects were largest among mothers with low levels of education.
Other work uses more recent data on local access to WIC. In some
States, like Texas, clients must apply for WIC in person, and distance to a
clinic can present a barrier to access. Rossin-Slater (2013) examines data
from the Texas Department of State Health Services on WIC clinic openings,
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