Aufsätze referiert extern - Web of Science
Jana Friedrichsen, Tobias König, Renke Schmacker
In: Journal of Public Economics 168 (2018), S. 174-192
Using a laboratory experiment, we present first evidence that social image concerns causally reduce the take-up of an individually beneficial transfer. Our design manipulates the informativeness of the take-up decision by varying whether transfer eligibility is based on ability or luck, and how the transfer is financed. We find that subjects avoid the inference both of being low-skilled (ability stigma) and of being willing to live off others (free-rider stigma). Using a placebo treatment, we exclude other explanations for the observed stigma effects. Although stigma reduces take-up, elicitation of political preferences reveals that only a minority of “taxpayers” vote for the public transfer.
JEL-Classification: C91;D03;H31;I38
Keywords: Stigma, Signaling, Redistribution, Non-take-up, Welfare program
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpubeco.2018.10.008
Frei zugängliche Version: (econstor)
http://hdl.handle.net/10419/231786