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Information and participation in a social program

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Author Info

  • David Coady

    () (International Monetary Fund (IMF))

  • Cesar Martinelli

    () (Centro de Investigacion Economica (CIE), Instituto Tecnologico Autonomo de Mexico (ITAM))

  • Susan Parker

    () (Centro de Docencia e Investigación Económica)

Abstract

Participation in a social program, like that in clubs and other social organizations, is the result of a process in which an agent first learns about the requirements, benefits, and the likelihood of acceptance, applies for membership, and finally is accepted or rejected. At each stage of the process, decisions made by the agent are responsive to expectations about the decisions and outcomes at the following stages. We propose a model of the participation process and estimate it using data from a social program in Mexico. We are able to distinguish empirically between information costs and other application costs, and show that self-selection due to information costs in fact contributes to targeting the program to the poorest families.

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File URL: http://ftp.itam.mx/pub/academico/inves/martinelli/08-06.pdf
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Bibliographic Info

Paper provided by Centro de Investigacion Economica, ITAM in its series Working Papers with number 0806.

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Length: 26 pages
Date of creation: Sep 2008
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:cie:wpaper:0806

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Related research

Keywords: Program participation; take up; information aquisition; targeting; undercoverage; leakage;

This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

References

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  1. repec:ese:iserwp:2006-12 is not listed on IDEAS
  2. repec:ese:iserwp:2006-29 is not listed on IDEAS
  3. Pudney, Stephen & Monica Hernandez & Ruth Hancock, 2003. "The Welfare Cost of Means-Testing: Pensioner Participation in Income Support," Royal Economic Society Annual Conference 2003 171, Royal Economic Society.
  4. James J. Heckman & Jeffrey A. Smith, 2003. "The Determinants of Participation in a Social Program: Evidence from a Prototypical Job Training Program," NBER Working Papers 9818, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  5. Ravallion, Martin, 1996. "Issues in Measuring and Modelling Poverty," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 106(438), pages 1328-43, September.
  6. Anna Aizer, 2003. "Low Take-Up in Medicaid: Does Outreach Matter and for Whom?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(2), pages 238-241, May.
  7. Cesar Martinelli & Susan W. Parker, 2006. "Deception and Misreporting in a Social Program," Working Papers 0602, Centro de Investigacion Economica, ITAM.
  8. Anna Aizer, 2007. "Public Health Insurance, Program Take-Up, and Child Health," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 89(3), pages 400-415, August.
  9. Hernandez, Monica & Pudney, Stephen, 2007. "Measurement error in models of welfare participation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(1-2), pages 327-341, February.
  10. Duclos, Jean-Yves, 1995. "Modelling the take-up of state support," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(3), pages 391-415, November.
  11. Parker, Susan W. & Rubalcava, Luis & Teruel, Graciela, 2008. "Evaluating Conditional Schooling and Health Programs," Handbook of Development Economics, Elsevier.
  12. Blundell, Richard & Fry, Vanessa & Walker, Ian, 1987. "Modelling the Take-up of Means-tested Benefits: the Case of Housing Benefits in the United Kingdom," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 98(390), pages 58-74, Supplemen.
  13. Moffitt, Robert, 1983. "An Economic Model of Welfare Stigma," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 73(5), pages 1023-35, December.
  14. Micklewright, John & Coudouel, Aline & Marnie, Sheila, 2004. "Targeting and Self-Targeting in a New Social Assistance Scheme," IZA Discussion Papers 1112, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
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