Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/150580 
Year of Publication: 
2007
Series/Report no.: 
SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research No. 31
Publisher: 
Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung (DIW), Berlin
Abstract: 
Within the German welfare system, heating expenditures of recipients are in general fully covered by the government. This paper empirically tests for the hypothesis that households receiving welfare payments turn to over consumption of residential space heating. We use microdata from two different data sources to explore whether conditional heating expenditures of these households significantly differ from those of other households. Our empirical findings suggest that even when controlling for a range of other factors this is indeed the case as heating expenditures lie about 10 percent above those of other households. These results are fairly robust to sensitivity analyses. Our results imply that there is potential scope for cost savings if this policy is changed.
Subjects: 
Social welfare
Germany
Space heating
Economic incentives
JEL: 
H23
Q41
Q48
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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