IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/iepoli/v20y2008i2p135-149.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Discounting telephone service: An examination of participation in the Lifeline Assistance Program using panel data

Author

Listed:
  • Hauge, Janice A.
  • Jamison, Mark A.
  • Todd Jewell, R.

Abstract

We examine the Lifeline Assistance Program to consider reasons people forgo a program providing financial benefits. Using panel data we employ a feasible generalized least squares estimation in which the dependent variable is the logit of the Lifeline participation rate. Our unique database incorporates characteristics of the eligible rather than the general population. We find incumbent telecommunications providers' enrollment efforts are statistically significant, and that home ownership and female head of household are associated with greater participation; being elderly and less educated are associated with less participation. Additionally, we find that an increase in the local phone rate is associated with increased participation. Our findings are important for regulatory policy surrounding the Lifeline program and universal service programs generally.

Suggested Citation

  • Hauge, Janice A. & Jamison, Mark A. & Todd Jewell, R., 2008. "Discounting telephone service: An examination of participation in the Lifeline Assistance Program using panel data," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 20(2), pages 135-149, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:iepoli:v:20:y:2008:i:2:p:135-149
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167-6245(08)00002-4
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Garbacz, Christopher & Thompson, Herbert G, 2002. "Estimating Telephone Demand with State Decennial Census Data from 1970-1990," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 21(3), pages 317-329, May.
    2. Janet Currie, 2004. "The Take Up of Social Benefits," NBER Working Papers 10488, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Blank, Rebecca M & Ruggles, Patricia, 1994. "Short-Term Recidivism among Public-Assistance Recipients," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(2), pages 49-53, May.
    4. Hoynes, Hilary Williamson, 1996. "Welfare Transfers in Two-Parent Families: Labor Supply and Welfare Participation under AFDC-UP," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 64(2), pages 295-332, March.
    5. Moffitt, Robert, 1983. "An Economic Model of Welfare Stigma," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 73(5), pages 1023-1035, December.
    6. Rodini, Mark & Ward, Michael R. & Woroch, Glenn A., 0. "Going mobile: substitutability between fixed and mobile access," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 27(5-6), pages 457-476, June.
    7. Jennifer Stuber & Karl Kronebusch, 2004. "Stigma and other determinants of participation in TANF and Medicaid," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 23(3), pages 509-530.
    8. Burton Mark & Macher Jeffrey & Mayo John W, 2007. "Understanding Participation in Social Programs: Why Don't Households Pick up the Lifeline?," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 7(1), pages 1-28, November.
    9. Garbacz, Christopher & Thompson, Herbert G, Jr, 2003. "Estimating Telephone Demand with State Decennial Census Data from 1970-1990: Update with 2000 Data," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 24(3), pages 373-378, November.
    10. Eriksson, Ross C & Kaserman, David L & Mayo, John W, 1998. "Targeted and Untargeted Subsidy Schemes: Evidence from Postdivestiture Efforts to Promote Universal Telephone Service," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 41(2), pages 477-502, October.
    11. Yelowitz, Aaron S., 2000. "Public policy and health insurance choices of the elderly: evidence from the medicare buy-in program," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(3), pages 301-324, November.
    12. Valletti, Tommaso M & Hoernig, Steffen & Barros, Pedro P, 2002. "Universal Service and Entry: The Role of Uniform Pricing and Coverage Constraints," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 21(2), pages 169-190, March.
    13. Papke, Leslie E & Wooldridge, Jeffrey M, 1996. "Econometric Methods for Fractional Response Variables with an Application to 401(K) Plan Participation Rates," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 11(6), pages 619-632, Nov.-Dec..
    14. Kathleen McGarry, 1995. "Factors Determining Participation of the Elderly in SSI," NBER Working Papers 5250, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Garbacz, Christopher & Thompson, Herbert G, Jr, 1997. "Assessing the Impact of FCC Lifeline and Link-Up Programs on Telephone Penetration," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 11(1), pages 67-78, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Vogelsang Ingo, 2013. "The Endgame of Telecommunications Policy? A Survey," Review of Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 64(3), pages 193-270, December.
    2. Bender, Kimberly & Schau, Nicholas & Begun, Stephanie & Haffejee, Badiah & Barman-Adhikari, Anamika & Hathaway, Jessica, 2015. "Electronic case management with homeless youth," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 36-42.
    3. Janice A. Hauge & Mark A. Jamison & R. Todd Jewell, 2007. "Participation in Social Programs by Consumers and Companies," Public Finance Review, , vol. 35(5), pages 606-625, September.
    4. Thomas S. Conkling, 2020. "Compliance and competition with heterogeneous service providers: the federal Lifeline program," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 57(1), pages 74-104, February.
    5. Ford, George S., 2021. "Subsidies and substitution: An empirical study of the lifeline program," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(1).
    6. Thomas S. Conkling, 2018. "Crowd‐Out or Affordability? The Lifeline Expansion's Effect on Wireless Service Spending," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 37(2), pages 357-383, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Janice A. Hauge & Mark A. Jamison & R. Todd Jewell, 2007. "Participation in Social Programs by Consumers and Companies," Public Finance Review, , vol. 35(5), pages 606-625, September.
    2. Jayakar, Krishna & Park, Eun-A, 2019. "Reforming the lifeline program: Regulatory federalism in action?," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 67-75.
    3. Ford, George S., 2021. "Subsidies and substitution: An empirical study of the lifeline program," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(1).
    4. Holt, Lynne & Galligan, Mary, 2013. "Mapping the field: Retrospective of the federal universal service programs," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(9), pages 773-793.
    5. Garbacz, Christopher & Thompson, Herbert Jr., 2005. "Universal telecommunication service: A world perspective," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 17(4), pages 495-512, October.
    6. Daniel Ackerberg & Michael Riordan & Gregory Rosston & Bradley Wimmer, 2008. "Low-Income Demand for Local Telephone Service: Effects of Lifeline and Linkup," Discussion Papers 07-032, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research.
    7. Biancini, Sara, 2011. "Behind the scenes of the telecommunications miracle: An empirical analysis of the Indian market," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 238-249, April.
    8. Ward, Michael R. & Woroch, Glenn A., 2010. "The effect of prices on fixed and mobile telephone penetration: Using price subsidies as natural experiments," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 18-32, March.
    9. Thomas S. Conkling, 2020. "Compliance and competition with heterogeneous service providers: the federal Lifeline program," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 57(1), pages 74-104, February.
    10. Gundersen, Craig & Jolliffe, Dean & Tiehen, Laura, 2009. "The challenge of program evaluation: When increasing program participation decreases the relative well-being of participants," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 367-376, August.
    11. Bargain, Olivier B. & Immervoll, Herwig & Viitamäki, Heikki, 2007. "How Tight Are Safety-Nets in Nordic Countries? Evidence from Finnish Register Data," IZA Discussion Papers 3004, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Terracol, Antoine, 2009. "Guaranteed minimum income and unemployment duration in France," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 171-182, April.
    13. Robert A. Moffitt, 2003. "The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program," NBER Chapters, in: Means-Tested Transfer Programs in the United States, pages 291-364, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Rozema, Kyle & Ziebarth, Nicolas R., 2015. "Behavioral Responses to Taxation: Cigarette Taxes and Food Stamp Take-Up," IZA Discussion Papers 8907, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    15. Burton Mark & Macher Jeffrey & Mayo John W, 2007. "Understanding Participation in Social Programs: Why Don't Households Pick up the Lifeline?," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 7(1), pages 1-28, November.
    16. Eric P. Chiang & Janice A. Hauge, 2007. "Funding Universal Service: The Effect of Telecommunications Subsidy Programs on Competition and Retail Prices," Working Papers 07-08, NET Institute, revised Aug 2007.
    17. Kerstin Bruckmeier & Jürgen Wiemers, 2018. "Benefit Take-Up and Labor Supply Incentives of Interdependent Means-Tested Benefit Programs for Low-Income Households," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 60(4), pages 583-604, December.
    18. Ewoudou, Jacques & Tsimpo, Clarence & Wodon, Quentin, 2009. "Stigma and the take-up of social programs," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4962, The World Bank.
    19. David W. Emmons & Eva Madly & Stephen A. Woodbury, 2005. "Refundable Tax Credits for Health Insurance: The Sensitivity of Simulated Impacts to Assumed Behavior," Upjohn Working Papers 05-119, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
    20. Björkegren, Daniel & Karaca, Burak Ceyhun, 2022. "Network adoption subsidies: A digital evaluation of a rural mobile phone program in Rwanda," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:iepoli:v:20:y:2008:i:2:p:135-149. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/505549 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.