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The Behavioral Interventions to Advance Self-Sufficiency (BIAS) project is the first major opportunity to use a behavioral economics lens to examine programs that serve poor and vulnerable families in the United States.
This report presents findings from a behavioral intervention, developed in collaboration with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services (DPSS). The intervention was designed to increase the number of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) recipients in Los Angeles who “reengaged” in the county’s welfare-to-work program (called Greater Avenues to Independence, or GAIN).
The test focused on 2,442 participants who were mandated to attend a reengagement appointment scheduled between July 2014 and September 2014. Participants with a scheduled reengagement appointment were randomly assigned to one of three groups:
- Gain group, which received a gain-framed notice with sticky note
- Loss group, which received a loss-framed notice with sticky note
- Control group (status quo), which did not receive additional materials
Participants in the program groups were mailed the notice with a sticky note approximately one week before their scheduled appointment. These materials were sent in addition to the status quo outreach sent by DPSS.
The loss notice, when compared with no additional outreach, increased positive engagement at 30 days by 4.4 percentage points. The gain notice, when compared with no additional outreach, did not produce a statistically significant impact at 30 days. No impacts were found for either group after 60 and 90 days. The findings suggest that participants responded more to the threat of losing benefits than the promise of receiving benefits.