No claim, no pain - measuring the non-take-up of social assistance using register data

Olivier Bargain, Herwig Immervoll and Heikki Viitamäki

No 200931, Working Papers from School of Economics, University College Dublin

Abstract: The main objectives of social assistance bene?fits, 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 benefi?t agencies. Most studies have to rely on interview-based data, with misreporting and measurement errors affecting the variables needed to establish both bene?fit receipt and benefi?t entitlement. In this paper, we exploit a unique combination of Finnish administrative data and eligibility simulations based on the tax-benefi?t calculator of the Finnish authorities, carefully investigating the measurement issues that remain. We ?nd 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: Take-up; Social assistance; Poverty; Register data; Transfer payments; Poverty; Welfare recipients--Statistics; Welfare state (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D31 H31 H53 I38 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lab
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Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10197/2629 First version, 2009 (application/pdf)

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 (2010)
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