The Review of Economics and Statistics 2025
Stigma in Welfare Programs
Abstract
Stigma of welfare participation is important for policy and survey design, because it reduces program take-up and increases misreporting. Stigma is also relevant to the literature on social image concerns, yet empirical evidence is scant because stigma is difficult to empirically identify. We use a novel approach to studying stigma by examining the relationship between program participation in a recipient's local network and underreporting program participation in surveys. We find a robust negative relationship and provide evidence against explanations other than stigma. Stigma decreases when more peers engage in the stigmatized behavior and when such actions are less observable.
- DOI
- 10.1162/rest_a_01556
- Pages
- 1-37
- Language
- en
- Sources
- openalex crossref