IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/mod/cappmo/0174.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Struggle of Being Poor and Claimant: Evidence on the Non-Take-Up of Social Policies in Italy

Author

Listed:
  • Stefano Boscolo
  • Giovanni Gallo

Abstract

Social policies aim to alleviate poverty and income inequality, providing cash benefits and services to households facing economic difficulties. Nonetheless, it is well known that a relevant portion of eligible households do not claim such policies. Through an original methodology based on ISEE (Indicatore della Situazione Economica Equivalente) administrative records, this paper offers the first empirical evidence on the non-take-up of social policies in Italy. We show that roughly 1.1 million of poor households did not file the ISEE declaration in 2018, a necessary step to claim most means-tested cash benefits and services. Based on multinomial logit regressions, results show that younger and larger households are more inclined to claim social policies. In contrast, households headed by a female or migrant tend to report severe levels of non-take-up, as do those living in the islands.

Suggested Citation

  • Stefano Boscolo & Giovanni Gallo, 2021. "The Struggle of Being Poor and Claimant: Evidence on the Non-Take-Up of Social Policies in Italy," Center for the Analysis of Public Policies (CAPP) 0174, Universita di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Dipartimento di Economia "Marco Biagi".
    • Handle: RePEc:mod:cappmo:0174
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://155.185.68.2/CappPaper/Capp_p174.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Massimo Baldini & Elizabeth J. Casabianca & Elena Giarda & Lorenzo Lusignoli, 2018. "The impact of REI on Italian households’ income: A micro and macro evaluation," Department of Economics 0126, University of Modena and Reggio E., Faculty of Economics "Marco Biagi".
    2. Olivier Bargain & Herwig Immervoll & Heikki Viitamäki, 2012. "No claim, no pain. Measuring the non-take-up of social assistance using register data," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 10(3), pages 375-395, September.
    3. Paolo Acciari & Sauro Mocetti, 2012. "The geography of income inequality in Italy," Politica economica, Società editrice il Mulino, issue 3, pages 307-343.
    4. Andrea Brandolini & Silvia Magri & Timothy M. Smeeding, 2010. "Asset-based measurement of poverty," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(2), pages 267-284.
    5. Davide Azzolini & Martina Bazzoli & Silvia De Poli & Carlo Fiorio & Samuele Poy, 2017. "Developing and Validating Regional Microsimulation Models. TREMOD: The Tax-Benefit Model of the Italian Province of Trento," ECONOMIA PUBBLICA, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2017(1), pages 5-33.
    6. Massimo Baldini & Giovanni Gallo & Manuel Reverberi & Andrea Trapani, 2016. "Social transfers and poverty in Europe: comparing social exclusion and targeting across welfare regimes," Center for the Analysis of Public Policies (CAPP) 0145, Universita di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Dipartimento di Economia "Marco Biagi".
    7. Tommy Ferrarini & Kenneth Nelson & Joakim Palme, 2015. "Levels and Targeting of Social Benefits in Global Perspective: Combatting Poverty through Social Policy," LIS Working papers 647, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    8. Massimo Baldini & Elizabeth Jane Casabianca & Elena Giarda & Lorenzo Lusignoli, 2018. "The Impact of REI on Italian Households' Income: A Micro and Macro Evaluation," Politica economica, Società editrice il Mulino, issue 2, pages 103-134.
    9. Arrighi, Yves & Davin, Bérengère & Trannoy, Alain & Ventelou, Bruno, 2015. "The non-take up of long-term care benefit in France: A pecuniary motive?," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 119(10), pages 1338-1348.
    10. Saurabh Bhargava & Dayanand Manoli, 2015. "Psychological Frictions and the Incomplete Take-Up of Social Benefits: Evidence from an IRS Field Experiment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(11), pages 3489-3529, November.
    11. Andrea Albarea & Michele Bernasconi & Cinzia Di Novi & Anna Marenzi & Dino Rizzi & Francesca Zantomio, 2015. "Accounting for Tax Evasion Profiles and Tax Expenditures in Microsimulation Modelling. The BETAMOD Model for Personal Income Taxes in Italy," International Journal of Microsimulation, International Microsimulation Association, vol. 8(3), pages 99-136.
    12. Kerstin Bruckmeier & Jürgen Wiemers, 2010. "A New Targeting - A New Take-Up?: Non-take-up of Social Assistance in Germany after Social Policy Reforms," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 294, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    13. Massimo Baldini & Giovanni Gallo & Manuel Reverberi & Andrea Trapani, 2016. "Social transfers and poverty in Europe: comparing social exclusion and targeting across welfare regimes," Department of Economics 0091, University of Modena and Reggio E., Faculty of Economics "Marco Biagi".
    14. Stefano Boscolo, 2019. "Quantifying the Redistributive Effect of the Erosion of the Italian Personal Income Tax Base: A Microsimulation Exercise," ECONOMIA PUBBLICA, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2019(2), pages 39-80.
    15. Bertrand, Marianne & Shafir, Eldar & Mullainathan, Sendhil, 2006. "Behavioral Economics and Marketing in Aid of Decision Making Among the Poor," Scholarly Articles 2962609, Harvard University Department of Economics.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Stefano Boscolo, 2019. "The Contribution of Proportional Taxes and Tax-Free Cash Benefits to Income Redistribution over the Period 2005-2018: Evidence from Italy," Department of Economics 0152, University of Modena and Reggio E., Faculty of Economics "Marco Biagi".
    2. Sylvain Chareyron & David Gray & Yannick L’Horty, 2018. "Raising Take-Up of Social Assistance Benefits through a Simple Mailing: Evidence from a French Field Experiment," Revue d'économie politique, Dalloz, vol. 128(5), pages 777-805.
    3. Stefano Boscolo, 2022. "The contribution of tax-benefit instruments to income redistribution in Italy," ECONOMIA PUBBLICA, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2022(2), pages 181-231.
    4. Boscolo, Stefano, 2019. "The contribution of proportional taxes and tax-free cash benefits to income redistribution over the period 2005-2018: Evidence from Italy," EUROMOD Working Papers EM18/19, EUROMOD at the Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    5. Rinehart, Chloe S. & McGuire, James W., 2017. "Obstacles to Takeup: Ecuador's Conditional Cash Transfer Program, The Bono de Desarrollo Humano," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 165-177.
    6. Andrea Barigazzi & Giovanni Gallo, 2023. "How Pandemic Shock Affects Claim for Minimum Income Measures," Center for the Analysis of Public Policies (CAPP) 0185, Universita di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Dipartimento di Economia "Marco Biagi".
    7. Julie Janssens & Natascha Van Mechelen, 2017. "Who is to Blame? An Overview of the Factors Contributing to the Non-Take-Up of Social Rights," Working Papers 1708, Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy, University of Antwerp.
    8. Sylvain Chareyron, 2016. "Le non-recours aux aides sociales sous conditions de ressources," Erudite Ph.D Dissertations, Erudite, number ph16-01 edited by Yannick L'Horty & François Legendre, December.
    9. Bastani, Spencer & Giebe, Thomas & Miao, Chizheng, 2020. "Ethnicity and tax filing behavior," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    10. Ha Trong Nguyen & Huong Thu Le & Luke B Connelly, 2021. "Who's declining the “free lunch”? New evidence from the uptake of public child dental benefits," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(2), pages 270-288, February.
    11. Goldzahl, Léontine & Hollard, Guillaume & Jusot, Florence, 2018. "Increasing breast-cancer screening uptake: A randomized controlled experiment," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 228-252.
    12. Youssef Benzarti, 2020. "How Taxing Is Tax Filing? Using Revealed Preferences to Estimate Compliance Costs," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 12(4), pages 38-57, November.
    13. Delis, Manthos & Galariotis, Emilios & Monne, Jerome, 2021. "Financial vulnerability and seeking expert advice: Evidence from a survey experiment," MPRA Paper 107095, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Gasior, Katrin & Hollan, Katarina & Fuchs, Michael & Premrov, Tamara & Scoppetta, Anette, 2019. "Falling through the social safety net? Analysing non-take-up of minimum income benefit and monetary social assistance in Austria," EUROMOD Working Papers EM9/19, EUROMOD at the Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    15. repec:ces:ifofor:v:19:y:2018:i:3:p:20-29 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Ugo Colombino & Nizamul Islam, 2018. "Basic Income and Flat Tax: The Italian Scenario," CESifo Forum, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 19(03), pages 20-29, October.
    17. Gianni Betti & Francesca Gagliardi & Laura Neri, 2021. "The Heavy Burden of “Dependent Children”: An Italian Story," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-12, September.
    18. Rosenqvist, Olof & Selin, Håkan, 2023. "Explaining benefit take-up behavior – the role of incentives and habits," Working Paper Series 2023:24, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    19. Richard Domurat & Isaac Menashe & Wesley Yin, 2019. "The Role of Behavioral Frictions in Health Insurance Marketplace Enrollment and Risk: Evidence from a Field Experiment," NBER Working Papers 26153, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. Giovanni Gallo & Michele Raitano, 2020. "SOS incomes: Simulated effects of COVID-19 and emergency benefits on individual and household income distribution in Italy," Working Papers 566, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    21. Elena Miola & Marco Manzo, 2021. "A Tax-Benefit Microsimulation Model for Personal Income Taxation in Italy," Working Papers wp2021-10, Ministry of Economy and Finance, Department of Finance.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    non-take-up; social policies; poverty; administrative records; welfare system;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C15 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Statistical Simulation Methods: General
    • I30 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General
    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:mod:cappmo:0174. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sara Colombini (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/demodit.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.