Working Papers
Information, Student-Parent Communication, and Secondary School Choice: Experimental Evidence from Kenya
Secondary school dropout rates are high in low-income countries, and information gaps about school characteristics may be an important contributing factor. If school choices are made with imperfect information, households may choose schools that are too expensive, not a good fit academically, or too costly to commute to, increasing the likelihood of the students dropping out. These information gaps may be further exacerbated when students and parents fail to communicate before making high stakes schooling decisions. I study the importance of these information and communication gaps in the transition from primary to secondary school using a field experiment with 3,000 Kenyan students and their parents. The intervention consisted of an informational meeting for 8th graders before they applied to secondary school, and randomly varied whether the parent participated in the meeting for a facilitated conversation with the student. I find that informational meetings with students led them to apply to more commutable schools at no cost to average test scores. Moreover, including the parents in these meetings improved parental knowledge about costs and led to better alignment of school preferences between the students and their parents. This ultimately led students to enroll in lower cost schools, which could generate meaningful savings.
[AEA RCT Registry][CEGA Blog]
Scaling Down Costs to Scale Up Effective Programs: Evidence from Two Randomized Interventions
with Sabrin Beg, Anne Fitzpatrick, and Adrienne Lucas - Submitted
[AEA RCT Registry 1][AEA RCT Registry 2][IPA Project Summary 1][IPA Project Summary 2]
Remote Learning Strategies Are Used When Schools Are Closed: Evidence from 12 Low-Income Countries
with Sabrin Beg, Anne Fitzpatrick, Adrienne Lucas, and Zoey Y. Zhao - Submitted
The Impact of Pre-Emptive Home Delivery of ORS+Zinc on Treatment for Child Diarrhea: A Randomized Controlled Trial in Bauchi, Nigeria
with Zachary Wagner, Ishita Ghai, Nneka Osadolor, Caroline Boeke, Chizoba Fashanu, Hawa Obaje, David Levine, and Felix Lam
[AEA RCT Registry][IPA Project Summary]
Integrating Pre-emptive Home Delivery of Oral Rehydration Salts and Zinc with Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention Platforms: A Difference-in-Differences Evaluation in Chad
with Zachary Wagner, Jun Young Jeong, Sahar Khayeche, Freddy Nadjingar Doumde, Anna Fallon, Chukwudi A. Nnaji, Mahamat Saleh Issakha Diar, Kolio Matchanga, Khadidja Amadaye Abgrene, and David I. Levine - Submitted
Promoting Parent-Child Reading: Evidence from Kenya
with Joan Hamory, Edward Miguel, Eric Ochieng, and Michael Walker
[AEA RCT Registry]
Caring for Neighbors: Community Redistribution of Health Aid in Nigeria
with Ishita Ghai and Zachary Wagner
Selected Research in Progress
Impact of Home Delivery of ORS and Zinc on ORS use in Kano State, Nigeria
with Charlie Jeong, Martyn James, Ishita Ghai, and Zachary Wagner
The effect of community zinc distribution on diarrhea duration and incidence
with Zachary Wagner, Ishita Ghai, and Nneka Osadolor
Identifying and Changing Stigma as an Informal Institution: Evidence from Adolescent Health
with Emma Smith and Dickens Onyango
Challenges Faced by Vulnerable Children
with Muhammad Zia Mehmood and Eric Ochieng
Pilot concluded
[IPA Project Summary]