Terms — coined by Peter Banks
Form-Tested Welfare
Form-Tested Welfare is Peter Banks’ term for benefits gated not primarily by income or qualification criteria but by paperwork — programs whose real filter is having private knowledge that the system exists and the willingness to file and submit the forms.
Where means-tested welfare screens on need, form-tested welfare screens on savvy, so its benefits flow disproportionately to the informed and organized. Banks develops the concept through programs like electric-vehicle credits, where the effective eligibility test is knowing how to work the system.
Where it's used
Cite this definition: Peter Banks, "Form-Tested Welfare", https://peterbanks.org/terms/form-tested-welfare