Survey misreporting of welfare receipt-Respondent, interviewer, and interview characteristics

•Survey underreporting of welfare receipt is a common phenomenon.•It is correlated with individual and household characteristics.•The extent of misreporting varies with interviewing style.•Misreporting is more frequent with formal and standardized interviewing.

We use matched survey and administrative data to study interviewer and interview related determinants of misreporting on welfare receipt in interviews. In our data, 12.2 % of German welfare recipients underreport benefit receipt. We find that underreporting is more likely in formal and standardized interviews compared to those with a more conversational character. Further, low interviewer education and matched interviewer-respondent characteristics with respect to immigration and education are associated with higher reporting quality.