Providing Government Assistance Online: A Field Experiment with the Unemployed

Guglielmo Briscese, Giulio Zanella and Veronica Quinn

Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 2022, vol. 41, issue 2, 579-602

Abstract: Welfare programs often consist of mandated in‐person assistance services. This feature can introduce an engagement barrier for some beneficiaries. Offering some of these services online can address this problem while also reducing administrative costs. In a field experiment with about 2,700 beneficiaries of unemployment benefits, we evaluate the effectiveness of a self‐directed website that supplements assistance traditionally delivered by job center staff. Tracking employment outcomes for nearly two years, we find that the intervention significantly increased job‐finding rates for some groups. Towards the end of the first year, the effect is still 7 percentage points (25 percent higher than in the control group) for prime‐age job seekers (35 to 50 years old) and 9 percentage points (35 percent higher than the control group) for women, reversing the job‐finding gender gap. We discuss opportunities for governments to scale up similar low‐cost interventions to assist social insurance and welfare beneficiaries online.

Date: 2022
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https://doi.org/10.1002/pam.22368

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wly:jpamgt:v:41:y:2022:i:2:p:579-602

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