Although the WIC food assistance program purchases over one-half of all US infant formula, I find the program has little impact on the prices paid by non-WIC customers. I estimate infant-formula marginal cost and find that it is low compared to price, implying large price-cost markups. But, the...

The article offers measures of own and cross cost pass-through in a structural framework. Unlike the traditional reduced-form analysis used in the previous literature, our approach is applicable in situations where firm marginal cost data are unobserved. The empirical value of the model is...

The endogeneity of retail market power arises in the retail pricing equation due to the correlation between margins and unobserved cost components. Nevertheless, it has long been ignored in the equilibrium analysis of retail behavior. We address the issue via a control function approach in a new...

State WIC agencies in infant-formula procurement auctions receive lower bids and final prices when they are in buyer’s alliances than when they are unallied. The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) uses an auction to procure infant formula....