Conference Paper European Meeting of the Econometric Society

The Welfare Cost of Means-Testing: pensioner participation in income support

Authors

Publication date

21 Aug 2003

Abstract

We estimate parametric and semi-parametric binary choice models of benefit take-up by British pensioners and use a revealed preference argument to infer the cash-equivalent value of disutility arising from stigma or complexity of the claims process. These implicit costs turn out to be relatively small, averaging about £ 3-4 per week across Income Support recipients. Using the Foster-Greer-Thorbecke measure of poverty among pensioners, we find that allowing for implicit claim costs incurred by benefit recipients raises the measured degree of poverty by not more than 13%.

Related publications

1. The welfare cost of means-testing: pensioner participation in income support

   Monica Hernandez, Stephen Pudney, and Ruth Hancock

   ISER Working Paper Series, 2006-12 - 01 Apr 2006 - download  
   1. Pensions
   2. Poverty

2. The welfare cost of means-testing: pensioner participation in income support

   Monica Hernandez, Stephen Pudney, and Ruth Hancock

   Journal Article, Journal of Applied Econometrics - 2007
   1. Pensions
   2. Poverty

#518198