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Understanding Participation in Social Programs: Why Don't Households Pick up the Lifeline?

  • Mark Burton , Jeffrey Macher und John W Mayo
Veröffentlicht/Copyright: 6. November 2007
The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy
Aus der Zeitschrift The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy Band 7 Heft 1

Abstract

In this study, we draw upon data from the low-income Lifeline Assistance Program (Lifeline) for telephone service to examine the participation of eligible households in social programs designed to alleviate financial hardship. Utilizing panel data on participation levels in 1997 and 2003 and the associated variation in state-level policies, we are able to identify program characteristics that significantly affect participation rates. In particular, we find that participation rates are significantly negatively influenced by limitations that some states place on the ability of Lifeline subscribers to utilize optional calling features such as three-way calling or call forwarding. We also find that program participation is positively influenced by the longevity of the individual state's Lifeline program. While no direct test of state-level advertising is feasible, this result is suggestive of an inter-temporal pattern of information dissemination that grows with program longevity. Because eligibility for the Lifeline service is conditional upon participation in other low-income public programs, we also find that: (1) the larger the number of "portals" (i.e., low income public programs that states identify as creating Lifeline eligibility), the higher is participation; and (2) higher financial benefits of these portal programs attract greater participation in Lifeline programs. These results suggest important linkages that may be exploited through coordination of low-income assistance programs. Finally, we test for, and find that variations in Lifeline benefits significantly influence participation rates.

Keywords: lifeline; participation; take rates
Published Online: 2007-11-6

©2011 Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin/Boston

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https://doi.org/10.2202/1935-1682.1583
Schlagwörter für diesen Artikel
lifeline; participation; take rates

Artikel in diesem Heft

  1. Contributions Article
  2. Regional Integration, Subsidy Competition and the Relocation Choice of MNCs
  3. Academic Journal Prices in a Digital Age: A Two-Sided Market Model
  4. A Model of Dysfunctional Urges and Addiction with an Application to Cigarette Smoking
  5. Gasoline Price Differences: Taxes, Pollution Regulations, Mergers, Market Power, and Market Conditions
  6. Disability Testing and Retirement
  7. The Short and Long Run Effects of Daylight Saving Time on Fatal Automobile Crashes
  8. The Effect of Smoking Bans on Bars and Restaurants: An Analysis of Changes in Employment
  9. Market Power Effects on Market Equilibrium in Ambient Permit Markets
  10. The Optimal Consumption and the Quitting of Harmful Addictive Goods
  11. The Pro-collusive Effect of Increasing the Repose Period for Price Fixing Agreements
  12. Does It Pay To Pray? Costly Ritual and Cooperation
  13. Vaccination Externalities
  14. Animal House: Economics of Pets and the Household
  15. The Informational Value of Affirmative Action in College Admissions
  16. Optimal Contracts for Health Services in the Presence of Waiting Times and Asymmetric Information
  17. Does Investment Promotion Work?
  18. Optimal Prevention when Informal Penalties Matter: The Case of Medical Errors
  19. Atkinson-Stiglitz Theorem with Endogenous Human Capital Accumulation
  20. Does the Minimum Wage Cause Inefficient Rationing?
  21. The Unpleasant Effects of Price Deregulation in the European Third-Party Motor Insurance Market: A Theoretical Framework
  22. Environmental Policy as Social Policy? The Impact of Childhood Lead Exposure on Crime
  23. Visa Screening and Collateral Import of Terrorism
  24. Are There Treatment Duration Differences in the Seattle and Denver Income Maintenance Experiments?
  25. Optimal Origin-based Commodity Taxation in a Small Open Economy
  26. Consumer Food Safety Risk Perceptions and Attitudes: Impacts on Beef Consumption across Countries
  27. Advances Article
  28. State Graduation Requirements, High School Course Taking, and Choosing a Technical College Major
  29. The Marginal Propensity to Spend on Adult Children
  30. Entry Deterrence in a Duopoly Market
  31. Energy Taxes in Three Political Economy Models
  32. Foreign Direct Investment, Endogenous Tariffs, and Preferential Trade Agreements
  33. Detecting Information Pooling: Evidence from Earnings Forecasts after Brokerage Mergers
  34. Gender Specialization of Skill Acquisition
  35. Racial and Economic Factors in Attitudes to Immigration
  36. The Katrina Effect: Was There a Bright Side to the Evacuation of Greater New Orleans?
  37. Topics Article
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  39. The Role of Distance in Gravity Regressions: Is There Really a Missing Globalisation Puzzle?
  40. Resource Allocation with Spatial Externalities: Experiments on Land Consolidation
  41. How Standards Drive Taxes: The Political Economy of Tailpipe Pollution
  42. The Transactions Demand for Credit Cards
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  44. Cost Effectiveness of R&D and Strategic Trade Policy
  45. Capital Structure and Entry Deterrence with Multiple Incumbents
  46. Emigration and Brain Drain: Evidence from the Caribbean
  47. Alcohol Control Policies and Youth Alcohol Consumption: Evidence from 28 Years of Monitoring the Future
  48. Can Stricter Environmental Regulations Increase Export of the Polluting Good?
  49. Human Capital and Welfare Dynamics in Canada
  50. Do Environmental Regulations Cost Jobs? An Industry-Level Analysis of the UK
  51. Understanding the Internet's Relevance to Media Ownership Policy: A Model of Too Many Choices
  52. The Pollution Haven Paradox: Can an Effluent Tax Improve both Profits and Welfare?
  53. Life Is Cheap: Using Mortality Bonds to Hedge Aggregate Mortality Risk
  54. The Impact of Reputation Timing and Source on Auction Outcomes
  55. Family Expenditures on Child Care
  56. Financial Aid and Student Bargaining Power
  57. The Ghost of Corruption
  58. Ideology, Inequality and Inequitable Trade Policies
  59. The 1990 Clean Air Act and the Implicit Price of Sulfur in Coal
  60. Coordination Failure in Foreign Aid
  61. Trade and Development in a Labor Surplus Economy
  62. Strategic Use of Copyright Protection to Deter Entry
  63. Does Increased Abortion Lead to Lower Crime? Evaluating the Relationship between Crime, Abortion, and Fertility
  64. Economic Geography and the Effect of Environmental Pollution on Agglomeration
  65. Bank Fragility and Growth Expectations
  66. Firm Regulation and Profit Sharing: A Real Option Approach
  67. Understanding Participation in Social Programs: Why Don't Households Pick up the Lifeline?
  68. Cross-Border Shopping and the Sales Tax: An Examination of Food Purchases in West Virginia
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