Nudges and Learning: Evidence from Informational Interventions for Low-Income Taxpayers

Can one-time informational interventions cause permanent changes in benefit take-up? In the context the Earned Income Tax Credit, we find evidence that reminding individuals of their eligibility has meaningful effects. Reminder notices have the largest effect among taxpayers without kids, persuading nearly 80 percent of taxpayers in the notice year to claim the credit. The effect of the notice quickly attenuates to roughly 22 percent only one year later. We find that this pattern holds across two experimental settings, one that tests the effect of being sent a notice and one that tests variations in the content of the notices.