TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Dykstra, Holly
AU  - Guerrico, Sofía Fernández
        TI  - Offsetting the Earnings Disincentive in Public Housing: Evidence from a Behaviorally Informed Field Intervention
        PY  - 2026/Mar/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 18483
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/index.php/publications/dp18483
        AB  - Income-based rents in public housing create an earnings disincentive. We collaborate with a public housing authority to design a behaviorally informed program that returns part of the rent induced by higher earnings to residents. Importantly, the program automatically enrolled households and was explicitly designed to make the increased payoff to working salient. Using a difference-in-differences approach, we estimate that annual household-head earnings rise 17% ($1,370/year) and public assistance falls 7.5%, with impacts on both intensive and extensive margins. These results provide evidence that an in-work benefit designed for salience can offset the earnings disincentive and affect follow-through labor market behavior.
        KW  - labor supply
KW  - in-work benefits
KW  - salience
KW  - public housing
        ER  -