American Economic Journal: Economic Policy
Vol. 14, Issue 4, Pages 432-452
November 2022
Abstract
The Earned Income Tax Credit distributes more than $60 billion to over 20 million low-income families annually. Nevertheless, an estimated one-fifth of eligible households do not claim it. We ran six preregistered, large-scale field experiments with 1 million observations to test whether "nudges" could increase EITC take-up. Despite varying the content, design, messenger, and mode of our messages, we find no evidence that they affected households' likelihood of filing a tax return or claiming the credit. We conclude that even the most behaviorally informed low-touch outreach efforts cannot overcome the barriers faced by low-income households who do not file returns.
Citation
Linos, Elizabeth, Allen Prohofsky, Aparna Ramesh, Jesse Rothstein, and Matthew Unrath. "Can Nudges Increase Take-Up of the EITC? Evidence from Multiple Field Experiments." American Economic Journal: Economic Policy 14.4 (November 2022): 432-452.