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DR@W forum: Andrew Oswald (Department of Economics)
Andrew Oswald
In-Work Benefits and Human Well-being: A Randomized Trial
Governments spend billions trying to reduce poverty and unemployment. They are currently handicapped by the lack of large randomized trials. Andrew discusses the results of a social-science experiment funded by the UK government. In it, 16,000 disadvantaged people were assigned to treatment and control groups. The treated were offered a range of in-work benefits. In this study, a sample of single parents were followed for 5 ensuing years. These individuals -- who received randomly assigned benefits -- went on earn more but to have lower psychological well-being, worried more, and were more prone to debt. Intervening to help them apparently worsened their lives.