Understanding the Impact of Nutritional and Tobacco Policy Using Scanner Data

In the first chapter, I examine the effect of participating in the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program on household food purchases. I find that after participating in WIC, families tend to buy more healthy food even after their benefits end. In the second chapter, I find that retailers charge higher prices for WIC-approved foods when more WIC beneficiaries live in the local market. This diverts some of the benefit of the program away from the intended beneficiaries and towards the retailers. In the last chapter, I explore how the pass-through of cigarette taxes varies according to cigarette brand characteristics.

Many thanks to Andrew’s dissertation committee: • Committee Chair –Mark Stehr – Associate Professor – Drexel University • Committee Member: Sebastien Bradley - Assistant Professor – Drexel University • Committee Member Mian Dai - Associate Professor- Drexel University • Committee Member: Matt Weinberg - Associate Professor – Drexel University • Committee Member: Amy Auchincloss - Associate Professor – Drexel University