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Raising the take-up of social assistance benefits through a simple mailing: evidence from a French field experiment

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  • Sylvain Chareyron
  • David Gray
  • Yannick L'Horty

Abstract

This paper is related to the phenomenon puzzling unduly low take-up rate for social assistance benefits in France. In order to investigate this phenomenon, we conduct an experimental evaluation in the form of a randomized control trial involving the influences of informational availability and complexity. We examine the impact of a change in the information set which is sent to these households just after they claim the benefit, seeking a behavioral response to this particular ‘nudge'. Our findings suggest that a costless action on the part of program administrators is able to substantially increase take-up for certain types of beneficiaries. In order to be effective, these actions should target households according to their individual attributes.
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Suggested Citation

  • Sylvain Chareyron & David Gray & Yannick L'Horty, 2017. "Raising the take-up of social assistance benefits through a simple mailing: evidence from a French field experiment," TEPP Working Paper 2017-01, TEPP.
    • Handle: RePEc:tep:teppwp:wp17-01
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    1. Robert French & Philip Oreopoulos, 2017. "Applying behavioural economics to public policy in Canada," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 50(3), pages 599-635, August.
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    Cited by:

    1. Denis Anne, 2019. "Aides à la mobilité et insertion sociale," Erudite Ph.D Dissertations, Erudite, number ph19-03 edited by Yannick L'Horty.
    2. B. Boutchenik & R. Lardeux, 2020. "The Take-Up of Unemployment Benefit Extensions," Documents de Travail de l'Insee - INSEE Working Papers g2020-02, Institut National de la Statistique et des Etudes Economiques.
    3. Julia Bock-Schappelwein & Christine Mayrhuber & Andrea Egger-Subotitsch & Gabriele Schmied, 2021. "Kombilohnmodelle europäischer Länder. Vergleich und Adaption während der COVID-19-Pandemie," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 69138, April.

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