福利债务减免：对就业、福利领取和心理健康的影响
Welfare debt relief: Impact on employment, benefit receipt, and mental health
Journal of Public Economics · 2026 · [{"name": "Ernst-Jan de Bruijn", "affiliation": ["Leiden University"]}, {"name": "Heike Vethaak", "affiliation": ["Leiden University"]}, {"name": "Pierre Koning", "affiliation": ["Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam"]}, {"name": "Marike Knoef", "affiliation": ["Tilburg University"]}]
中文摘要
福利超额支付是福利项目的常见副产品，往往导致个人背负大量债务。尽管有效的偿还与债务减免政策是一项关键的政策关切，但关于其影响的经验证据仍然稀缺。本研究考察福利债务减免对财务脆弱个体的劳动力市场与心理健康结果的影响。我们利用荷兰一家福利机构采用的资格截断点来识别因果效应，采用工具变量双重差分（instrumented DID）与模糊断点回归（fuzzy RD）设计。基于关联的行政数据，我们的研究结果表明，债务减免使心理健康药物的使用减少约1.1个百分点（13.9%），这与财务压力下降相一致。对于全样本，我们未发现其对就业、收入和福利领取有显著影响。然而，在事前债务状况严重的债务人中，就业有所增加。这表明在债务规模较大时，初始存在债务悬置（debt overhang）问题。
Abstract
Benefit overpayments are a common byproduct of benefit programs and often lead to substantial debts among individuals. Although effective repayment and debt-relief policies are a key policy concern, empirical evidence on their impact is still scarce. In this study, we investigate the impact of welfare debt relief on labor market and mental health outcomes among financially vulnerable individuals. We exploit an eligibility cutoff applied by a Dutch welfare office to identify causal effects, using an instrumented difference-in-difference and fuzzy regression discontinuity design. Using linked administrative data, our findings suggest that debt relief reduces the use of mental health medication by about 1.1 percentage points (13.9%), consistent with lower financial stress. We find no significant effects on employment, earnings, and welfare receipt for the full sample. However, employment increases among debtors with ex-ante severe debt positions. This indicates the initial presence of debt overhang problems with larger debts.