Elwyn Davies , Peter Deffebach , Leonardo Iacovone , David McKenzie
{"title":"Training microentrepreneurs over Zoom: Experimental evidence from Mexico","authors":"Elwyn Davies , Peter Deffebach , Leonardo Iacovone , David McKenzie","doi":"10.1016/j.jdeveco.2023.103244","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Standard in-person business training programs are costly and difficult to scale to the millions of microenterprises in the developing world. We conduct an experiment to test the feasibility, cost-savings, and impact of delivering live training sessions over Zoom to microentrepreneurs in Mexico and Guatemala. We demonstrate that it is now feasible to both recruit and train self-employed women online, covering a wide geographic area, with few technology issues. However, the cost-savings over in-person classes are less than expected. Training improved business practices and performance over 2 months, but impacts had dissipated within 6 months.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48418,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Development Economics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":5.1000,"publicationDate":"2023-12-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Development Economics","FirstCategoryId":"96","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304387823002006","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ECONOMICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Standard in-person business training programs are costly and difficult to scale to the millions of microenterprises in the developing world. We conduct an experiment to test the feasibility, cost-savings, and impact of delivering live training sessions over Zoom to microentrepreneurs in Mexico and Guatemala. We demonstrate that it is now feasible to both recruit and train self-employed women online, covering a wide geographic area, with few technology issues. However, the cost-savings over in-person classes are less than expected. Training improved business practices and performance over 2 months, but impacts had dissipated within 6 months.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Development Economics publishes papers relating to all aspects of economic development - from immediate policy concerns to structural problems of underdevelopment. The emphasis is on quantitative or analytical work, which is relevant as well as intellectually stimulating.