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Replicator Evolution of Welfare Stigma: Welfare Fraud vs. Incomplete Take-Up

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  • Jun-ichi Itaya
  • Kenichi Kurita

Abstract

There are two important problems in welfare benefit programs: the prevalence of welfare fraud, in which ineligible people receive welfare benefits, and incomplete take-up, whereby eligible poor people are reluctant to claim welfare benefits. This study investigates both of these opposing phenomena using simple replicator models of statistical discrimination and the tax-payer resentment view welfare stigma suggested by Besley and Coate (1992). We find multiple stable equilibria in the long run, one of which entails low welfare fraud and 100% incomplete take-up and the other of which entails high welfare fraud and complete take-up in either model, and, moreover, that an interior stationary equilibrium that allows for the coexistence of welfare fraud and incomplete take-up is unstable in the model of statistical discrimination view welfare stigma, but it is stable in the model of the tax-payer resentment view welfare stigma. This difference arises from the different nature of stigma cost functions in these two models.

Suggested Citation

  • Jun-ichi Itaya & Kenichi Kurita, 2020. "Replicator Evolution of Welfare Stigma: Welfare Fraud vs. Incomplete Take-Up," CESifo Working Paper Series 8621, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_8621
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Assar Lindbeck & Sten Nyberg & Jörgen W. Weibull, 1999. "Social Norms and Economic Incentives in the Welfare State," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 114(1), pages 1-35.
    2. Yaniv, Gideon, 1997. "Welfare fraud and welfare stigma," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 18(4), pages 435-451, June.
    3. Rebecca M. Blank & Patricia Ruggles, 1996. "When Do Women Use Aid to Families with Dependent Children and Food Stamps? The Dynamics of Eligibility Versus Participation," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 31(1), pages 57-89.
    4. J. A. Mirrlees, 1971. "An Exploration in the Theory of Optimum Income Taxation," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 38(2), pages 175-208.
    5. Tomer Blumkin & Yoram Margalioth & Efraim Sadka, 2015. "Welfare Stigma Re-Examined," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 17(6), pages 874-886, December.
    6. Besley, Timothy & Coate, Stephen, 1992. "Understanding welfare stigma: Taxpayer resentment and statistical discrimination," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(2), pages 165-183, July.
    7. Samuelson, Larry & Zhang, Jianbo, 1992. "Evolutionary stability in asymmetric games," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 57(2), pages 363-391, August.
    8. Regina T. Riphahn, 2001. "Rational Poverty or Poor Rationality? The Take‐up of Social Assistance Benefits," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 47(3), pages 379-398, September.
    9. Duclos, Jean-Yves, 1995. "Modelling the take-up of state support," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(3), pages 391-415, November.
    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.
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    Cited by:

    1. Yuya Katafuchi & Kenichi Kurita & Shunsuke Managi, 2021. "COVID-19 with Stigma: Theory and Evidence from Mobility Data," Economics of Disasters and Climate Change, Springer, vol. 5(1), pages 71-95, April.
    2. Kurita, Kenichi, 2021. "Comparative institutional analysis of poverty-alleviation systems: Does basic income improve social welfare?," MPRA Paper 107177, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Kino, Shiho & Nishioka, Daisuke & Ueno, Keiko & Saito, Masashige & Kondo, Naoki, 2022. "Changes in social relationships by the initiation and termination of public assistance in the older Japanese population: A JAGES panel study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 293(C).
    4. Kenichi Kurita & Nobuaki Hori & Yuya Katafuchi, 2022. "Stigma model of welfare fraud and non‐take‐up: Theory and evidence from OECD panel data," International Journal of Economic Theory, The International Society for Economic Theory, vol. 18(3), pages 310-338, September.
    5. Kenichi Kurita & Shunsuke Managi, 2022. "COVID-19 and Stigma: Evolution of Self-restraint Behavior," Dynamic Games and Applications, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 168-182, March.
    6. Hamamura, Jumpei & Kurita, Kenichi, 2021. "Does stigma against tax avoidance improve social welfare?," MPRA Paper 107173, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Katafuchi, Yuya & Kurita, Kenichi & Managi, Shunsuke, 2020. "Self-restraint behavior under COVID-19 through stigma: Theory and evidence based on mobility data," MPRA Paper 102182, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    stigma; replicator dynamics; incomplete take-up; welfare fraud; non-take-up;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H31 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - Household
    • H53 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Welfare Programs
    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs

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