<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>This study estimates the prevalence of non-take-up of social assistance using administrative data from the Canton of Bern. Regional variation in non-take-up rates is then used to study the contextual effects of social norms with respect to welfare receipt legitimacy. Social norms are proxied with the degree of urbanity, language regions and communal voter shares of left- and right-wing parties. Multiple regression analysis, extended by several robustness checks, suggests that social norms do indeed have an impact on take-up behavior.</p></abstract>

This study estimates the prevalence of non-take-up of social assistance using administrative data from the Canton of Bern. Regional variation in non-take-up rates is then used to study the contextual effects of social norms with respect to welfare receipt legitimacy. Social norms are proxied with the degree of urbanity, language regions and communal voter shares of left- and right-wing parties. Multiple regression analysis, extended by several robustness checks, suggests that social norms do indeed have an impact on take-up behavior.

Non-Take-Up of Social Assistance: Regional Differences and the Role of Social Norms

Swiss Journal of Sociology

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

This study estimates the prevalence of non-take-up of social assistance using administrative data from the Canton of Bern. Regional variation in non-take-up...

Non-Take-Up of Social Assistance: Regional Differences and the Role of Social Norms

Publié en ligne: 07 avr. 2019

Pages: 7 - 33

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/sjs-2019-0002

Mots clés
non-take-up, social assistance, Switzerland, regional differences, welfare attitudes

© 2019 Oliver Hümbelin, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Non-Take-Up of Social Assistance: Regional Differences and the Role of Social Norms

Publié en ligne: 07 avr. 2019

Pages: 7 - 33

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/sjs-2019-0002

Mots clésnon-take-up, social assistance, Switzerland, regional differences, welfare attitudes

© 2019 Oliver Hümbelin, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Mots clés
non-take-up, social assistance, Switzerland, regional differences, welfare attitudes