Independent analysis · 2026

Why eligible people do not claim

Independent analysis · Administrative burden · behavioural framework

Psychology and public policy share a stubborn fact: eligibility is not a claim. I use a simple sequence, after the administrative-burden literature (Herd and Moynihan) and the Indian welfare fieldwork already on this site.

AwarenessDoes the person know the programme exists? Information costs, rumour, literacy, language.

EligibilityDoes she believe it includes her? Uncertainty and stigma sit here.

IntentionIs it worth a day? Opportunity cost, trust that the state will pay.

ApplicationDocuments, intermediaries, digital gates, an official who will explain the next step.

CompletionBiometrics, corrections, a file that does not stall.

ReceiptMoney or grain in hand. The only stage most dashboards should care about, and often do not.

Established evidence, on this site and in the sources it cites: CLRA’s funnel; ONORC dealer behaviour; NFHS gaps between accounts and decision-making; Drèze and Khera on PMMVY coverage. Hypotheses, not yet evidence: that shame at a police station or a BDO office has a larger effect on completion than missing information does; that intermediaries raise completion and skim; that women with accounts but without phones drop out at the OTP step. Those last three would need original fieldwork. I will not present them as results.