Using a laboratory experiment, we present first evidence that stigmatization through public exposure causally reduces the take-up of an individually beneficial transfer. Our design exogenously varies the informativeness of the take-up decision by varying whether transfer eligibility is based on...

A puzzle of the modern welfare state is that a large fraction of social benefits is not taken up. Using a laboratory experiment, we present evidence that stigmatization through public exposure causally reduces the take-up of a redistributive transfer by 30 percentage points. We build a...

Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- Part I: The Turn to the Market -- 1 The Triumph of the Market -- 2 Business Moves: Markets, Nations, and Inequality -- 3 Disposable Workers -- 4 The Low-Wage, Low-Skill Strategy -- Part II: The Path Upward? -- 5 Education: Choice, Profit, and...