No Claim, No Pain: Measuring the Non-Take-up of Social Assistance Using Register Data

Olivier Bargain, Herwig Immervoll and Heikki Viitamäki ()
Additional contact information
Heikki Viitamäki: VATT, Helsinki

No 5355, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: The main objectives of social assistance benefits, including poverty alleviation and labor-market or social reintegration, can be seriously compromised if support is difficult to access. While recent studies point to high non-take-up rates, existing evidence does not make full use of the information recorded by benefit agencies. Most studies have to rely on interview-based data, with misreporting and measurement errors affecting the variables needed to establish both benefit receipt and benefit entitlement. In this paper, we exploit a unique combination of Finnish administrative data and eligibility simulations based on the tax-benefit calculator of the Finnish authorities, carefully investigating the measurement issues that remain. We find rates of non-take-up that are both substantial and robust: 40% to 50% of those eligible do not claim. Using repeated cross-section estimations for years 1996-2003, we identify a set of stable determinants of claiming behavior and suggest that changes in behavior could drive the observed downward trend in take-up rates during the post-recession period. We discuss the poverty implications of our results.

Keywords: poverty; take-up; social assistance; register data (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D31 H31 H53 I38 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 25 pages
Date: 2010-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lab
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

Published - published in: Journal of Economic Inequality , 2012, 10 (3), 375-395

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Related works:
Journal Article: No claim, no pain. Measuring the non-take-up of social assistance using register data (2012)
Working Paper: No claim, no pain - measuring the non-take-up of social assistance using register data (2009)
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