and Aenneli Houkes-Hommes Policy ProductionsIt is common for individuals not to take up welfare benefits. The most common explanation is that people make a rational choice between the utility they expect from the benefit and the effort required to take-up. Most studies utilize surveys, which are subject to misreporting and measurement errors, to determine eligibility and non-take-up rates. This study uses a novel dataset based on administrative data sources, which provides a more accurate identification of eligible households and take-up. Furthermore, this study documents non-take-up of a compensation to which nearly 5 million Dutch households are entitled. The richness of the data allowed us to conduct a detailed analysis of key drivers of non-take-up. The analysis largely confirms the transaction-costs hypotheses. However, we found an unexpected effect. Although, in general, the probability of take-up increases when income decreases, those with the lowest income or wealth do not have the highest probability of take-up.JEL Codes: D31, H53, I38

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Since 2004, most municipalities in the Netherlands receive lump sum payments from the state for the payment of social assistance allowances. As municipalities had no authority to change the eligibility rules for social assistance, the effects of the welfare reform are solely due to the efforts of municipalities to decrease the number of welfare recipients. Using variation in the timing of policy changes, this paper uses a difference-in-difference approach to assess the effectiveness of the incentive for municipalities. Based on individual panel data from administrative records, we show that the high-powered scheme led to a decline of the welfare caseload of 14% up till 2008. The reform has been most effective for those with the highest welfare dependency: single mothers and singles from non-western origin. In line with standard economic predictions, the reform does not give an incentive for cream skimming: the welfare caseload declined as well for easy to place recipients as for difficult to place recipients.