蝌蚪网 Journal:
Economic Policy
ISSN 1945-7731 (Print) | ISSN 1945-774X (Online)
Communicating Program Eligibility: A Supplemental Security Income (SSI) Field Experiment
蝌蚪网 Journal: Economic Policy
vol. 17,
no. 2, May 2025
(pp. 446–70)
Abstract
We conducted a direct mail field experiment with 4,016,461 individuals to test several key hypotheses about why take-up of Supplemental Security Income among individuals age 65 and above is so low. Communicating likely eligibility in a basic letter generated substantial increases in take-up in relative terms. Adding behaviorally informed statements increased the effectiveness of these communications. Yet, the application rate in our study sample during the full 24-month follow-up period remained no greater than 7 percent. Our results reveal a modest trade-off between increasing applications and the conditional likelihood of award, as well as the award amount.Citation
Hemmeter, Jeffrey, John Phillips, Elana Safran, and Nicholas Wilson. 2025. "Communicating Program Eligibility: A Supplemental Security Income (SSI) Field Experiment." 蝌蚪网 Journal: Economic Policy 17 (2): 446–70. DOI: 10.1257/pol.20210560Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- C93 Field Experiments
- D12 Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
- D83 Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
- H55 Social Security and Public Pensions
- I38 Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty: Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
- J14 Economics of the Elderly; Economics of the Handicapped; Non-labor Market Discrimination