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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2019 Jul;3(7):678-683.
doi: 10.1038/s41562-019-0572-z. Epub 2019 Apr 15.

A low-cost information nudge increases citizenship application rates among low-income immigrants

Michael Hotard  1 , Duncan Lawrence  1 , David D Laitin  2   3 , Jens Hainmueller  1   4   5
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

A low-cost information nudge increases citizenship application rates among low-income immigrants

Michael Hotard et al. Nat Hum Behav. 2019 Jul.

Abstract

We show that an information nudge increased the rate of American citizenship applications among low-income immigrants eligible for a federal fee waiver. Approximately half of the 9 million naturalization-eligible immigrants qualify for a federal programme that waives the cost of the citizenship application for low-income individuals. However, take-up of this fee waiver programme remains low1-3. Here we use a randomized field experiment to test the effectiveness of a low-cost intervention (a 'nudge') that informed low-income immigrants about their eligibility for the fee waiver. We find that the information nudge increased the rate of citizenship applications by about 8.6 percentage points from 24.5% in the control group to 33.1% in the treatment group (ordinary least squares regression with robust standard errors (d.f. = 933); P = 0.015; 95% confidence interval ranged from 1.7 to 15.4 percentage points). We found no evidence that the nudge was less effective for poorer or less educated immigrants. These findings contribute to the literature that addresses the incomplete take-up of public benefits by low-income populations4-10 and suggest that lack of information is an important obstacle to citizenship among low-income immigrants who demonstrate an interest in naturalization.

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Comment in

  • Nudging naturalization.
    Pastor M. Pastor M. Nat Hum Behav. 2019 Jul;3(7):660-661. doi: 10.1038/s41562-019-0579-5. Nat Hum Behav. 2019. PMID: 30988482 No abstract available.
  • Decision-making and immigration.
    [No authors listed] [No authors listed] Nat Hum Behav. 2019 Jul;3(7):647. doi: 10.1038/s41562-019-0664-9. Nat Hum Behav. 2019. PMID: 31292533 No abstract available.

References

    1. 2016 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics Technical Report (US Department of Homeland Security, Office of Immigration Statistics, 2017).
    1. USCIS Fee Waiver Policies and Data Techical Report (US Department of Homeland Security, Office of Immigration Statistics, 2017).
    1. Lee, J. & Baker, B. Estimates of the Lawful Permanent Resident Population in the United States: January 2014 Technical Report (US Department of Homeland Security, Office of Immigration Statistics, 2017).
    1. Currie, J. The Take Up of Social Benefits Technical Report (National Bureau of Economic Research, 2004).
    1. Remler, D. K. & Glied, S. A. What other programs can teach us: increasing participation in health insurance programs. Am. J. Public Health 93, 67–74 (2003). - DOI

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