Pushing Welfare

Encouraging Awareness and Uptake of Social Benefits in South India

Bibliographic Data

ID5023573
AuthorsErlend Berg (0000-0002-9165-3255, University of Bristol), D Rajasekhar (0000-0002-9542-058X, Institute for Social and Economic Change), R Manjula (0000-0002-2246-8574, Institute for Social and Economic Change)
Year2022
Volume70
Issue2
Pages901-939
Publication date2022-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueEconomic Development and Cultural Change (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0013-0079 • E-ISSN: 1539-2988
PublisherUniversity of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1086/713880
OpenAlexW3131460281
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited12

Governments in many developing countries offer social welfare schemes that few take up or even know of. We undertake a randomized controlled evaluation of agents trained in the facilitation of 16 government social welfare schemes in south India. The agents were incentivized to seek out eligible households, provide them with information about the schemes, and help them apply. We find that the agents increase scheme awareness but not application submission or scheme obtention. Among members of government-sponsored community groups, agents have no effect. Scheme-specific analysis suggests that the program may have had an impact on two schemes that were relatively new, subject to special focus under the program, and administered by the implementing department. Despite a modest effect on awareness, the intervention led to a significant increase in satisfaction with government services

Business · Developing country · Economic growth · Economic interventionism · Economics · Government (linguistics) · Intervention (counseling) · Political science · Public economics · Scheme (mathematics) · Social facilitation · Social Welfare · Welfare · Gender, Labor, and Family Dynamics · Medicine · Microfinance and Financial Inclusion · Nursing · Psychology · Social Psychology · Taxation and Compliance Studies

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Open DOIOpen Access