Journal of Policy Analysis and Management最新文献

I study whether the amount of time students take to complete their bachelor's degree affects labor outcomes after graduation using a resume-based field experiment. I randomly assign a time to degree of either 4 or 6 years to over 7,000 fictitious resumes of recent graduates and submit them to entry-level business jobs. Resumes listing degree completion in 6 years received 1% to 2% fewer employer responses than resumes indicating graduation in 4 years, which is not a statistically significant difference. There is also no difference in the effect of longer time to degree between resumes listing a more or less selective college. However, among jobs with relatively large applicant pools, resumes listing 6 years to degree receive 16% fewer responses.

Non-take-up of social benefits is a significant policy issue caused by factors such as lack of awareness, compliance costs, and stigma. While public information campaigns, default options, and in-person assistance are increasingly used, their effectiveness remains poorly understood. This study provides a systematic review of field experiments evaluating nudges and simple behavioral interventions on program take-up. We analyzed 93 interventions from 35 studies published over nearly 20 years, predominantly focusing on major U.S. programs. We compared study characteristics, including sample and intervention types, and assessed study quality. Due to high heterogeneity, we did not conduct a meta-analysis but used forest plots and thematic summaries instead. Most studies reported a positive impact on program take-up, but not on program application. Two types of interventions were notable for their impact on program application and take-up: 1) providing and framing information; and 2) providing assistance. We discuss the limitations of this review, including the cost and safety of nudges and the implications of focusing on field experiments. We conclude that further research is needed on simpler interventions outside the U.S., as well as on compliance and psychological costs. Additionally, improving the quality and transparency of field experiments is essential.

In this study we describe the potential of human-centered design principles to identify burdens, reducing the effects of administrative checkpoints. Administrative checkpoints—mandatory requirements that must be satisfied in order to progress in an administrative process—have disproportionate negative effects in excluding the public from receiving public services. Mandatory interviews are one such checkpoint. Based on consultation with safety net clients and caseworkers, we designed a field experiment (N = 1,554) to minimize the exclusionary effects of mandatory interviews for SNAP applicants. Compared to a control group that received a traditional mailer reminder, SNAP applicants who also received texts reminding them of the interview and communicating flexible “interview anytime” scheduling options had a higher interview completion rate by 10 percentage points, a higher benefit-approval rate by 6 to 7 percentage points, and also completed interviews 3 to 4 days sooner. Follow-up surveys show that the text reminders reduced learning costs about the interview requirement and increased applicant confidence about their ability to manage the process.

Involvement with the juvenile justice system carries immense consequences both to detained youth and to society more broadly. Extant research on the “school-to-prison pipeline” has often focused on school disciplinary practices such as suspension with less attention on understanding the impact of school referrals to the juvenile justice system on students. Using novel administrative data from North Carolina, we link 3 years of individual educational and disciplinary infraction records to juvenile justice system records to identify the effect of juvenile justice referrals for school-based offenses on academic and behavioral outcomes. We find that, even for the same offense type and circumstance, relative to students only punished internally in the school, students referred to juvenile justice experience lower academic achievement and increased absenteeism, and are more likely to be involved in future disciplinary infractions and juvenile system contact. We show that these juvenile referrals are not inevitable and instead reflect a series of discretionary choices made by school administrators and law enforcement. Moreover, we find that female students, Black students, and economically disadvantaged students are more likely to receive referrals even for the same offense type and circumstances.

We use a baby formula “food scare” in Israel in 2003 as a plausible natural experiment to study the causal relationship between breastfeeding and mothers’ return to work after childbirth. Analysis of administrative data covering the universe of births in the country shows that first-time mothers who gave birth shortly after the scare delayed their return to work. Their average months worked in the first 6 months after childbirth fell by about 11% relative to their counterparts in the previous year. Data from a major medical equipment lender in Israel indicates an increased likelihood of borrowing milk pumps, suggesting that the delay in returning to work was driven by an increase in breastfeeding. The results indicate that despite developments in technology and policy changes in recent decades, mothers still trade off work for the breastfeeding of their children.