How Costly is Welfare Stigma? Separating Psychological Costs from Time Costs

Manchester, Colleen Flaherty; Mumford, Kevin J.

doi:10.2139/ssrn.1544601

Cited by 15 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…Again, a simple consumer theory model would suggest that individuals would prefer vouchers with fewer restrictions, as they enable consumers to better optimize over a broader set of consumption bundles. Furthermore, restrictions on consumption such as vouchers or in-kind transfers may lead to "welfare stigma" ( Moffitt, 1983 ), which is costly to individuals psychologically and drives away potential recipients from applying for or receiving transfers ( Manchester and Mumford, 2009;Rinehart and McGuire, 2017 ). Specifically, Manchester and Mumford (2009) find that psychological costs are twice as large as time costs among food stamp and WIC participants in the U.S. Our experiment allows for a direct test of this as well.…”

Section: Voucher Restrictions On the Consumption Of Transfersmentioning

confidence: 90%

Workfare, wellbeing and consumption: Evidence from a field experiment with Kenya’s urban poor

Bhanot

Han

Jang

2018

Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization

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Restrictions like work requirements and constraints on voucher transfers are often used in social welfare systems, but little empirical evidence exists on their impact on wellbeing. We conducted a 10-day randomized experiment with 432 individuals living below the poverty line in the Kawangware settlement of Nairobi, Kenya, testing two elements of social welfare design: workfare versus welfare and restricted versus unrestricted vouchers. Participants were randomly assigned to a "Work" condition, involving daily work for unrestricted vouchers, or one of two "Wait" conditions, involving daily waiting for vouchers that were either unrestricted or partially restricted to staple foods. We find that working improved psychological wellbeing relative to waiting, suggesting that the means of implementing welfare programs may have important effects on individuals beyond the impact of monetary benefit alone. Furthermore, although the restrictions were inframarginal, partially restricted vouchers crowded-in spending on staple foods, suggesting the existence of a "flypaper effect" in spending from restricted vouchers.

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Section: Voucher Restrictions On the Consumption Of Transfersmentioning

confidence: 90%

Workfare, wellbeing and consumption: Evidence from a field experiment with Kenya’s urban poor

Bhanot

Han

Jang

2018

Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization

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“…The focus on ''fraud'' and the tales of cheating workers may have had a pervasive effect, increasing levels of stigmatization and, as a result, probably decreasing the likelihood that an injured worker will file for benefits. Stigma has been widely studied in the context of other transfer payment programs, particularly welfare programs [Moffitt, 1983;Manchester and Mumford, 2009]. Although less well studied in the workers' compensation arena, it is widely discussed by injured workers, labor organizations, and others.…”

Section: Many Workers Who Might Be Eligible For Benefits Do Not File mentioning

confidence: 99%

The lack of correspondence between work‐related disability and receipt of workers' compensation benefits

Spieler

Burton

2012

American J Industrial Med

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Background Previous studies suggest that many persons with disabilities caused by work do not receive workers' compensation benefits. Methods Data from surveys of persons with disabilities were used to estimate the proportion of disability due to work-related injuries and diseases. Studies examining the proportion of workers with work-related disability who received workers' compensation benefits were reviewed. Legal and other factors explaining the lack of receipt of workers' compensation benefits were examined. Results Many workers with disabilities caused by work do not receive workers' compensation benefits. The obstacles to compensation include increasingly restrictive rules for compensability in many state workers' compensation programs. Conclusions A substantial proportion of persons with work-related disabilities do not receive workers' compensation benefits. The solutions to this problem, such as providing healthcare to workers regardless of the source of injuries or diseases, are complicated and controversial, and will be difficult to implement.

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“…However, these programs reach relatively few households, and geographic access poses a barrier to those without a nearby farmersÕ market that accepts FarmersÕ Market Nutrition Program checks (40). In addition, stigma around using vouchers at farmersÕ markets may limit usage, as opposed to swipeable Electronic Benefit Transfer cards, which resemble traditional debit/credit cards (41). Programs led by nongovernmental organizations such as Wholesome WaveÕs Double Value Coupon Program and Fair Food NetworkÕs Double Up Food Bucks are also examples of efforts to make locally produced fruits and vegetables purchased at farmersÕ markets affordable for low-income consumers.…”

Section: Elements Of Localism and Supercenterism Across Key Domains Omentioning

confidence: 99%

Toward a Just, Nutritious, and Sustainable Food System: The False Dichotomy of Localism versus Supercenterism ,

Taillie

Jaacks

2015

The Journal of Nutrition

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How Costly is Welfare Stigma? Separating Psychological Costs from Time Costs

Cited by 15 publications

References 17 publications

Workfare, wellbeing and consumption: Evidence from a field experiment with Kenya’s urban poor

Workfare, wellbeing and consumption: Evidence from a field experiment with Kenya’s urban poor

The lack of correspondence between work‐related disability and receipt of workers' compensation benefits

Toward a Just, Nutritious, and Sustainable Food System: The False Dichotomy of Localism versus Supercenterism ,

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