Would People Behave Differently If They Better Understood Social Security? Evidence from a Field Experiment

A-Tier
Journal: American Economic Journal: Economic Policy
Year: 2015
Volume: 7
Issue: 1
Pages: 275-99

Score contribution per author:

2.011 = (α=2.01 / 2 authors) × 2.0x A-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

This paper presents the results of a randomized field experiment that provided information about key Social Security features to older workers. The experiment was designed to examine whether it is possible to affect individual behavior using a relatively inexpensive informational intervention about the provisions of a public program and to explore the mechanisms underlying the behavior change. We find that our relatively mild intervention (sending an informational brochure and an invitation to a web-tutorial) increased labor force participation one year later by 4 percentage points relative to the control group mean of 74 percent. (JEL C93, D12, H55)

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:aea:aejpol:v:7:y:2015:i:1:p:275-99
Journal Field
General
Author Count
2
Added to Database
2026-01-25