Cash by any other name? Evidence on labeling from the UK Winter Fuel Payment

Timothy Beatty, Laura Blow, Thomas Crossley () and Cormac O'Dea

Journal of Public Economics, 2014, vol. 118, issue C, 86-96

Abstract: Government transfers to individuals are often given labels indicating that they are designed to support the consumption of particular goods. Standard economic theory implies that the labeling of cash transfers or cash-equivalents should have no effect on spending patterns. We study the UK Winter Fuel Payment, a cash transfer to older households. Our empirical strategy nests a regression discontinuity design within an Engel curve framework. We find robust evidence of a behavioral effect of labeling. On average households spend 47% of the WFP on fuel. If the payment were treated as cash, we would expect households to spend 3% of the payment on fuel.

Keywords: Labeling; Benefits; Expenditure; Regression discontinuity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D12 H24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (35)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Cash by Any Other Name? Evidence on Labelling from the UK Winter Fuel Payment (2012)
Working Paper: Cash by any other name? Evidence on labelling from the UK Winter Fuel Payment (2011)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:pubeco:v:118:y:2014:i:c:p:86-96

DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2014.06.007

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