Abstract Among the factors identified to account for non-take-up of social benefits, there has been limited research on ‘process costs’, particularly regarding the impact of geographic access. Using Israeli data on field office openings from 1993 to 2021, this paper investigates the impact of geographic access on the take-up of the five largest social security programs in Israel. Based on staggered openings and closings of social security field offices, we find that geographic access has no significant impact on the take-up of either automatic enrollment programs, such as child allowances, or non-automatic programs, such as disability benefits. These findings suggest that the effect of geographic access on the take-up of social benefits may have been overstated in previous studies. We propose the following hypothesis to explain the surprising findings: If enhanced geographic access is driven by political favoritism, opening of new service points may lead to the misallocation of resources and, in effect, increase administrative burdens, thereby undermining rather than improving the take-up of social benefits.

Momi Dahan

Noam Tarshish

Journal of Social Policy

The Journal of Social Policy carries high quality articles on all aspects of social policy in an international context. It places particular emphasis upon articles which seek to contribute to debates on the future direction of social policy, to present new empirical data, to advance theories, or to analyse issues in the making and implementation of social policies.     The Journal of Social Policy is part of the "Social Policy Package", which also includes Social Policy and Society and the Social Policy Digest. An online resource, the Social Policy Digest, was launched in 2003. The Digest provides a regularly up-dated, fully searchable, summary of policy developments and research findings across the whole range of social policy.

The Journal of Social Policy publishes high-quality articles covering all aspects of social policy in an international context. It particularly emphasizes articles that aim to contribute to debates on the future direction of social policy, present new empirical data, advance theories, or analyze issues related to the formulation and implementation of social policies. The Journal is part of the 'Social Policy Package,' which also includes Social Policy and Society and the Social Policy Digest. An online resource, the Social Policy Digest, was launched in 2003, providing a regularly updated, fully searchable summary of policy developments and research findings across the entire spectrum of social policy.

《Journal of Social Policy》是一本高质量的期刊，涵盖社会政策的各个方面，具有国际视野。期刊特别强调那些旨在推动社会政策未来方向辩论的文章，提供新的实证数据，推进理论发展，或分析社会政策的制定与实施问题。该期刊是“社会政策包”的一部分，后者还包括《Social Policy and Society》和《Social Policy Digest》。在线资源《Social Policy Digest》于2003年推出，提供一个定期更新、可全面检索的社会政策发展和研究成果摘要。

Category	Quartile
社会学	3
社会学, 社会工作	2
社会学, 社会问题	3
社会学, 公共管理	4

The unexpected impact of geographic access on take-up of social benefits

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Journal Info

Category	Quartile
SOCIAL WORK	1