Do knowledge gains from public information campaigns persist over time? Results from a survey experiment on the Norwegian pension reform

摘要

Government authorities use resources on information campaigns in order to inform citizensabout relevant policy changes. The motivation is usually that individuals sometimes are ill-informed about the public policies relevant for their choices. In a survey experiment wherethe treatment group was provided with public information material on the social securitysystem, we assess the short- and medium-term knowledge effects. We show that the short runeffects of the information on knowledge disappear completely within 4 months. Thefindingsillustrate the limits of public information campaigns to improve knowledge about relevantpolicy reforms.