Non take-up of means-tested benefits among pensioners is of longstanding concern. It will assume increased importance from 2003 with the introduction of the new means-tested Pension Credit, which will subsume Income Support and to which about half of all pensioners are expected to be entitled....

Non-take-up of means-tested benefits among pensioners is of long-standing concern. It has assumed increased importance from October 2003 with the introduction of the new means-tested pension credit to which about half of pensioners are expected to be entitled. We use Family Resources Survey data...

Microsimulation models are commonly used to examine the distributional impact of reforms of the means-tested benefit system. Take-up behaviour is related to the level of entitlement, so reform may induce changes in take-up. We develop a stochastic simulation method and apply it to a probit model...

We estimate parametric and semi-parametric binary choice models of benefit take-up by British pensioners and develop methods, based on the compensating variation, of inferring the cash-equivalent value of disutility arising from stigma or complexity of the claims process, taking account of the...

We estimate parametric and semi-parametric binary choice models of benefit take-up by British pensioners and use a revealed preference argument to infer the cash-equivalent value of disutility arising from stigma or complexity of the claims process. These implicit costs turn out to be relatively...

We estimate the implicit disability costs faced by older people, using data on over 8,000 individuals from the UK Family Resources Survey. We extend previous research by using a more flexible statistical modelling approach and by allowing for measurement error in observed disability and standard...

We propose a nonparametric matching approach to estimation of implicit costs based on the compensating variation (CV) principle. We apply the method to estimate the additional personal costs experienced by disabled older people in Great Britain, finding that those costs are substantial,...

We compare three major UK surveys, BHPS, FRS and ELSA, in terms of the picture they give of the relationship between disability and receipt of the Attendance Allowance (AA) benefit. Using the different disability indicators available in each survey, we estimate a model in which probabilities of...