Volume 15, Number 4 (Fall) 1980
Robins, Philip K., and Richard W. West. 1980. "Program Participation and Labor-Supply Response." Journal of Human Resources 15(4):499-523.
In this paper, a model of participation in the Seattle and Denver Income Maintenance Experiments (SIME/DIME) is developed and estimated. The model explains why a family chooses to receive negative income tax (NIT) payments, chooses to remain in the experiment but not receive payments, or chooses to leave the experiment (attrition). It is assumed that an individual selects the option that yields the greatest amount of utility. The empirical formulation of the model relates program participation to experimentally induced changes in wage rates, nonwage income, and disposable income, and several nonexperimental variables. Based on the participation results, a model of labor supply with varying participation rates is specified and estimated.
The authors are economists with SRI International. The research reported herein was performed pursuant to contracts with the States of Washington and Colorado, prime contractors for the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare under contract numbers HEW-100-78-0005 and HEW-100-78-0004, respectively. The opinions expressed in the paper are those of the authors and should not be construed as representing the opinions or policies of the States of Washington or Colorado or any agency of the United States government. The authors wish to acknowledge several discussions with John Pencavel that helped shaped the form of the participation model used in this paper, useful comments by Gary Burtless, Katherine Dickinson, Michael C. Keeley, and Stanley Masters, and the expert programming assistance of Gary Stieger.
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