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Discussion Paper Details

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Title: Caseworker's discretion and the effectiveness of welfare-to-work programs

Author(s): Jonneke Bolhaar, Nadine Ketel and Bas van der Klaauw

Publication Date: July 2018

Keyword(s): caseworkers, field experiment and welfare-to-work

Programme Area(s): Labour Economics

Abstract: In this paper we focus on the role of caseworkers in the assignment and take-up of welfare-to-work programs. We conduct a field experiment that generates exogenous variation in the assignment to different policy regimes to caseworkers. The experiment allows us to provide evidence on the effectiveness of welfare-to-work programs and to study how caseworkers exploit their discretion in assigning these programs to welfare recipients. We find substantial heterogeneity in how caseworkers assign welfare-to-work programs. Participation in the experiment and learning about the effectiveness of the different programs does not induce caseworkers to focus more on the effective programs. This implies that obtaining knowledge about welfare-to-work programs is not enough to improve policy, also effort on implementation is required.

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Bibliographic Reference

Bolhaar, J, Ketel, N and van der Klaauw, B. 2018. 'Caseworker's discretion and the effectiveness of welfare-to-work programs'. London, Centre for Economic Policy Research. https://cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=13047