Making Activation for Young Welfare Recipients Mandatory

Espen S. Dahl () and Øystein Hernaes ()
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Espen S. Dahl: University of Oslo
Øystein Hernaes: Ragnar Frisch Centre for Economic Research

No 15170, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Activation policies to promote self-sufficiency among recipients of welfare and other types of benefits are becoming more common in many welfare states. We evaluate a law change in Norway making welfare receipt conditional on participation in an activation program for all welfare recipients below the age of 30. Analyzing the program's staggered implementation across municipalities with several modern event study estimators, we estimate that the law change had quite precise 0-effects on benefit receipt, work and education. We also do not find any effects on the probability of being out of work or of being in employment, education or labor market programs. Qualitative evidence suggests that the zero effect may be due to the law change only impacting the participation of recipients with low expected gain from activation.

Keywords: conditionality; activation; social assistance; welfare reform; labor (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H55 I38 J18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 26 pages
Date: 2022-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eur, nep-lab and nep-pbe
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published - published in: Labour, 2023, 37 (1), 96-121

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