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Can SMS Technology Improve Low Take-up of Social Benefits?

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  • Mariana Blanco
  • Juan Fernando Vargas

Abstract

Low take up of stigma-free social benefits is often blamed on information asymmetries or administrative barriers. There is limited evidence on which of these potential channels is more salient in which contexts. We designed and implemented a randomized controlled trial to assess the extent to which informational barriers are responsible for the prevalent low take-up of government benefits among Colombian conflict-driven internal refugees. We provide timely information on benefits eligibility responsible for the prevalent low take-up of government benefits among Colombian ity via SMS to a random half of the displaced household that migrated to Bogota over a 6-month period. We show that improving information increases benefi ts' take up. However, the e ffect is small and only true for certain type of bene fits. Hence, consistent with previous experimental literature, the availability of timely information explains only part of the low-take up rates and the role of administrative barriers and bureaucratic processes should be tackled to increase the well-being of internal refugees in Colombia.

Suggested Citation

  • Mariana Blanco & Juan Fernando Vargas, 2013. "Can SMS Technology Improve Low Take-up of Social Benefits?," Documentos de Trabajo 11036, Universidad del Rosario.
    • Handle: RePEc:col:000092:011036
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    File URL: http://repository.urosario.edu.co/bitstream/handle/10336/10965/11036.pdf
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    Cited by:

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    2. Zambrano Andrés & Zuleta Hernando, 2017. "Goal and Strategies of an Insurgent Group: Violent and Non-violent Actions," Peace Economics, Peace Science, and Public Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 23(2), pages 1-7, April.
    3. Cruces, Guillermo, 2023. "Conditional Cash Transfers, Debit Cards and Financial Inclusion: Experimental Evidence from Argentina," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 13034, Inter-American Development Bank.
    4. Andrés Zambrano & Hernando Zuleta, 2016. "Revealing the preferences of the FARC," Documentos CEDE 14572, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Information asymmetries; take-up rate; SMS; RCT;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design
    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments

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