社会可观察性与转移支付需求: 来自低收入人群的实验证据
Social Observability and Demand for Transfers: Experimental Evidence from a Low Income Population
Journal of Public Economics · 2025 · [{"name": "Marcel Fafchamps", "affiliation": ["Stanford University"]}, {"name": "Fadela Sadou Zouleya", "affiliation": ["Stanford University"]}]
中文摘要
我们考察社会可观察性如何影响低收入个体申请经济援助的意愿。参与者在实验室完成任务赚取收入后，可获得机会向一项专项面向最低收入者的社会基金申请转移支付。我们通过实验分别改变申请是公开还是私密进行，以及资金来源是实验者还是其他参与者。我们发现，将申请公开会使领取率下降31个百分点；若进一步引入同伴出资，则领取率还会再下降10个百分点。当收入是通过努力而非抽奖获得、且公开可见性与同伴出资同时存在时，上述效应最强。这些发现并非由利他偏好或再分配偏好所驱动，但换位思考会使参与者对公开申请处理更为敏感。我们的研究结果表明，在申请过程中保障隐私有助于提高收入支持项目的可及性。
Abstract
We examine how social observability affects the willingness of low-income individuals to apply for financial support. After completing tasks to earn income in the lab, participants are given the opportunity to apply for a transfer from a social fund earmarked for the lowest earners. We experimentally vary whether the application is public or private and whether the funds come from the experimenters or other participants. We find that making the application public reduces take-up by 31 percentage points. Adding peer funding leads to a further 10 percentage point drop. These effects are strongest when income is earned through effort instead of a lottery, and when both public visibility and peer funding are present. The findings are not driven by altruistic or redistributive preferences, but perspective taking makes participants more sensitive to the public application treatment. Our findings suggest that ensuring privacy in the application process helps increase access to income support programs.