Business-training programs are typically offered for free. Charging a price for training provides potential benefits such as financial sustainability, but little is known about how price affects demand. We conducted two experiments in Jamaica using the Becker-DeGroot-Marschak (BDM) mechanism and take-it-or-leave-it offers to estimate the demand for training. Most entrepreneurs have positive willingness to pay for training, but demand falls sharply as price increases. Offering the chance to pay in installments does not increase demand. Higher prices screen out poorer, less educated entrepreneurs who have smaller firms. However, charging a higher price does increase attendance among those who pay. Finally, our paper points to the limitations of using a BDM mechanism in a context of low contract enforcement and when payments for purchasing an intangible service do not occur immediately.
{"title":"Estimating the Demand for Business Training: Evidence from Jamaica","authors":"A. Maffioli, David McKenzie, D. Ubfal","doi":"10.1086/719031","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/719031","url":null,"abstract":"Business-training programs are typically offered for free. Charging a price for training provides potential benefits such as financial sustainability, but little is known about how price affects demand. We conducted two experiments in Jamaica using the Becker-DeGroot-Marschak (BDM) mechanism and take-it-or-leave-it offers to estimate the demand for training. Most entrepreneurs have positive willingness to pay for training, but demand falls sharply as price increases. Offering the chance to pay in installments does not increase demand. Higher prices screen out poorer, less educated entrepreneurs who have smaller firms. However, charging a higher price does increase attendance among those who pay. Finally, our paper points to the limitations of using a BDM mechanism in a context of low contract enforcement and when payments for purchasing an intangible service do not occur immediately.","PeriodicalId":48055,"journal":{"name":"Economic Development and Cultural Change","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47353196","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Monserrat Bustelo, A. M. Diaz, J. Lafortune, C. Piras, L. M. Salas, José Tessada
We conducted a discrete choice experiment to elicit women’s revealed preferences regarding job schedule flexibility (flexible scheduling and part-time employment) in a developing country context. We did so with an incentivized methodology for job seekers. On average, women have a high willingness to pay for a flexible schedule within a full-time contract but a much lower desire to trade wages for part-time contracts. The willingness to pay for a flexible work arrangement is largest for more affluent women, while willingness to pay for part-time employment is highest among those with higher time demands.
{"title":"What Is the Price of Freedom? Estimating Women’s Willingness to Pay for Job Schedule Flexibility","authors":"Monserrat Bustelo, A. M. Diaz, J. Lafortune, C. Piras, L. M. Salas, José Tessada","doi":"10.1086/718645","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/718645","url":null,"abstract":"We conducted a discrete choice experiment to elicit women’s revealed preferences regarding job schedule flexibility (flexible scheduling and part-time employment) in a developing country context. We did so with an incentivized methodology for job seekers. On average, women have a high willingness to pay for a flexible schedule within a full-time contract but a much lower desire to trade wages for part-time contracts. The willingness to pay for a flexible work arrangement is largest for more affluent women, while willingness to pay for part-time employment is highest among those with higher time demands.","PeriodicalId":48055,"journal":{"name":"Economic Development and Cultural Change","volume":"71 1","pages":"1179 - 1211"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46867261","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
K. Croke, María Elena García Mora, Markus Goldstein, E. Mensah, Michael B. O'Sullivan
Small-scale cross-border trade provides opportunities for economic gains in many developing countries. Yet cross-border traders—many of whom are women—face harassment and corruption, which can undermine these potential gains. We present evidence from a randomized controlled trial that provided access to information on procedures, tariffs, and rights to small-scale traders to facilitate border crossings, lower corruption, and reduce gender-based violence along the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)–Rwanda border. The training reduces bribe payment by 5 percentage points in the full sample and by 27.5 percentage points, on average, among compliers. The training also reduces the incidence of gender-based violence by 5.4 percentage points (30.5 percentage points among compliers). We assess competing explanations for the impacts using a game-theoretic model based on Hirschman’s exit, voice, and loyalty framework. The effects are achieved through early border crossings at unofficial hours (exit) instead of traders’ use of voice mechanisms or reduced rent seeking from border officials. These results highlight the need to improve governance and establish clear cross-border trade regulations, particularly on the DRC side of the border.
{"title":"Up before Dawn: Experimental Evidence from a Cross-Border Trader Training at the DRC-Rwanda Border","authors":"K. Croke, María Elena García Mora, Markus Goldstein, E. Mensah, Michael B. O'Sullivan","doi":"10.1086/718187","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/718187","url":null,"abstract":"Small-scale cross-border trade provides opportunities for economic gains in many developing countries. Yet cross-border traders—many of whom are women—face harassment and corruption, which can undermine these potential gains. We present evidence from a randomized controlled trial that provided access to information on procedures, tariffs, and rights to small-scale traders to facilitate border crossings, lower corruption, and reduce gender-based violence along the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)–Rwanda border. The training reduces bribe payment by 5 percentage points in the full sample and by 27.5 percentage points, on average, among compliers. The training also reduces the incidence of gender-based violence by 5.4 percentage points (30.5 percentage points among compliers). We assess competing explanations for the impacts using a game-theoretic model based on Hirschman’s exit, voice, and loyalty framework. The effects are achieved through early border crossings at unofficial hours (exit) instead of traders’ use of voice mechanisms or reduced rent seeking from border officials. These results highlight the need to improve governance and establish clear cross-border trade regulations, particularly on the DRC side of the border.","PeriodicalId":48055,"journal":{"name":"Economic Development and Cultural Change","volume":"71 1","pages":"863 - 901"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45056203","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Despite the increasing popularity of private secondary education in sub-Saharan Africa, little is known about the return. In this paper, I estimate a private school learning premium in Tanzania, using administrative exam records for 635,000 students. I compare secondary school students with their primary school classmates who achieved the same primary school exam scores and control for peer effects and unobserved ability. On average, private schools improve exam scores by 0.54 of a standard deviation in 2 years. A regression discontinuity design suggests that the effect is causal, and subject-specific estimates are all positive but higher for mathematics relative to Kiswahili and English.
{"title":"When Private Beats Public: A Flexible Value-Added Model with Tanzanian School Switchers","authors":"Kasper Brandt","doi":"10.1086/718893","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/718893","url":null,"abstract":"Despite the increasing popularity of private secondary education in sub-Saharan Africa, little is known about the return. In this paper, I estimate a private school learning premium in Tanzania, using administrative exam records for 635,000 students. I compare secondary school students with their primary school classmates who achieved the same primary school exam scores and control for peer effects and unobserved ability. On average, private schools improve exam scores by 0.54 of a standard deviation in 2 years. A regression discontinuity design suggests that the effect is causal, and subject-specific estimates are all positive but higher for mathematics relative to Kiswahili and English.","PeriodicalId":48055,"journal":{"name":"Economic Development and Cultural Change","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42168718","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Grandparents are an important source of childcare, especially when formal childcare supply is low. In this paper, I explore whether grandmothers’ retirement affects their daughters’ employment when they have young children. I exploit a pension reform in Argentina that induced an arguably exogenous variation in grandmothers’ retirement decisions. I find that mothers of young children coresiding with retirement-eligible grandmothers are significantly more likely to participate in the labor market and to be employed, and the effects are large. Although I find suggestive evidence that the underlying mechanism is an increase in grandmothers’ time availability, I cannot fully rule out an income effect. Also, I find no evidence that the policy affected fertility or household composition.
{"title":"Stay at Home With Grandma, Mom Is Going to Work: The Impact of Grandmothers' Retirement on Mothers' Labor Decisions","authors":"M. Pinto","doi":"10.1086/719161","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/719161","url":null,"abstract":"Grandparents are an important source of childcare, especially when formal childcare supply is low. In this paper, I explore whether grandmothers’ retirement affects their daughters’ employment when they have young children. I exploit a pension reform in Argentina that induced an arguably exogenous variation in grandmothers’ retirement decisions. I find that mothers of young children coresiding with retirement-eligible grandmothers are significantly more likely to participate in the labor market and to be employed, and the effects are large. Although I find suggestive evidence that the underlying mechanism is an increase in grandmothers’ time availability, I cannot fully rule out an income effect. Also, I find no evidence that the policy affected fertility or household composition.","PeriodicalId":48055,"journal":{"name":"Economic Development and Cultural Change","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45823439","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
People often underestimate the time it takes to complete a task. We investigate the causes of such overoptimism through a lab-in-the-field experiment with microfinance clients in Bolivia testing the contribution of uncertainty, personality, and financial incentives. Our results are consistent with theories of time-inconsistent beliefs postulating the existence of anticipatory benefits, where the incentives at stake shape optimism. Correlational evidence also suggests that optimists have greater real-life outstanding debt. We propose that time preference models be adjusted to include anticipatory utility and that the role of repayment incentives in shaping overoptimistic expectations of microfinance clients should not be overlooked.
{"title":"The Origins of Optimism: a Lab-in-the-Field Experiment among Microfinance Clients in Bolivia","authors":"F. Cecchi, Elske Voermans, R. Lensink","doi":"10.1086/718237","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/718237","url":null,"abstract":"People often underestimate the time it takes to complete a task. We investigate the causes of such overoptimism through a lab-in-the-field experiment with microfinance clients in Bolivia testing the contribution of uncertainty, personality, and financial incentives. Our results are consistent with theories of time-inconsistent beliefs postulating the existence of anticipatory benefits, where the incentives at stake shape optimism. Correlational evidence also suggests that optimists have greater real-life outstanding debt. We propose that time preference models be adjusted to include anticipatory utility and that the role of repayment incentives in shaping overoptimistic expectations of microfinance clients should not be overlooked.","PeriodicalId":48055,"journal":{"name":"Economic Development and Cultural Change","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43294592","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper uses employer-employee data to jointly examine worker turnover and job flows in Ethiopia. We find substantial worker turnover (38%) at the aggregate level. Nearly half of this turnover is driven by establishment-level job flows, while the other half is accounted for by excess turnover or churning. A substantial part of hiring (separation) occurs among downsizing (growing) establishments, underscoring that worker flows are much higher than job reallocation across establishments. Churning of workers appears to be negatively associated with subsequent employment growth, and this relationship is stronger among employers that rely more on long-term relationships with workers.
{"title":"Worker Turnover and Job Reallocation: Evidence from Matched Employer-Employee Data","authors":"Admasu Shiferaw, Måns Söderbom","doi":"10.1086/718686","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/718686","url":null,"abstract":"This paper uses employer-employee data to jointly examine worker turnover and job flows in Ethiopia. We find substantial worker turnover (38%) at the aggregate level. Nearly half of this turnover is driven by establishment-level job flows, while the other half is accounted for by excess turnover or churning. A substantial part of hiring (separation) occurs among downsizing (growing) establishments, underscoring that worker flows are much higher than job reallocation across establishments. Churning of workers appears to be negatively associated with subsequent employment growth, and this relationship is stronger among employers that rely more on long-term relationships with workers.","PeriodicalId":48055,"journal":{"name":"Economic Development and Cultural Change","volume":"71 1","pages":"1249 - 1277"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43818302","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This study examines evidence from a randomized controlled trial of a novel financial services intervention designed to spur savings uptake in rural areas of the developing world. The sample includes more than 2,000 households from 325 villages in rural Malawi. Results show that an information treatment consisting of periodic village visits from a trained bank staff person significantly increased adoption and use of savings accounts. The findings also show important impact heterogeneities along dimensions such as education level, remoteness of village, and gender of household head, as well as positive spillover effects onto account uptake at other financial institutions. Further analysis reveals active account use among adopters. These findings confirm recent suggestions from survey evidence on an important role played by “soft” barriers to financial inclusion (e.g., low information and trust) and provide insights on how such barriers can be overcome.
{"title":"Bridging the Savings Gap: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Malawi","authors":"Jeffrey A. Flory","doi":"10.1086/716337","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/716337","url":null,"abstract":"This study examines evidence from a randomized controlled trial of a novel financial services intervention designed to spur savings uptake in rural areas of the developing world. The sample includes more than 2,000 households from 325 villages in rural Malawi. Results show that an information treatment consisting of periodic village visits from a trained bank staff person significantly increased adoption and use of savings accounts. The findings also show important impact heterogeneities along dimensions such as education level, remoteness of village, and gender of household head, as well as positive spillover effects onto account uptake at other financial institutions. Further analysis reveals active account use among adopters. These findings confirm recent suggestions from survey evidence on an important role played by “soft” barriers to financial inclusion (e.g., low information and trust) and provide insights on how such barriers can be overcome.","PeriodicalId":48055,"journal":{"name":"Economic Development and Cultural Change","volume":"71 1","pages":"963 - 1002"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2021-10-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45631706","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper uses exogenous variation in the probability of being surveyed at baseline to estimate the impact of being surveyed on subsistence farmers’ take-up of a new agricultural technology that improves food safety. I find large and statistically significant impacts of being surveyed and that an experimental treatment effect disappears for surveyed farmers. My results have strong implications for our understanding of the process of technology adoption, for the external validity of adoption results measured in surveyed populations, and for research ethics.
{"title":"The Impact of Being Surveyed on the Adoption of Agricultural Technology","authors":"Mark Treurniet","doi":"10.1086/717251","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/717251","url":null,"abstract":"This paper uses exogenous variation in the probability of being surveyed at baseline to estimate the impact of being surveyed on subsistence farmers’ take-up of a new agricultural technology that improves food safety. I find large and statistically significant impacts of being surveyed and that an experimental treatment effect disappears for surveyed farmers. My results have strong implications for our understanding of the process of technology adoption, for the external validity of adoption results measured in surveyed populations, and for research ethics.","PeriodicalId":48055,"journal":{"name":"Economic Development and Cultural Change","volume":"71 1","pages":"941 - 962"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2021-10-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42018140","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper investigates the impact of a law protecting the employment rights of persons with disabilities in Cambodia. Similar to studies in high-income countries, we find that Cambodia’s national disability law did not improve the employment situation of persons with disabilities, and may have worsened it, 4 years after implementation. The reduction in employment and hours worked of disabled persons following the law’s introduction is concentrated among employees, females, young persons, those with less than a primary school education, and those in the industrial sector. We explore supply- and demand-side explanations for the disability law’s unintended effect. On balance, the most likely explanation for the reduced work activity of disabled workers is lower demand for their labor from employers facing workplace accommodation costs and in an environment where employment quotas for disabled workers appear to have been set at nonbinding levels.
{"title":"Are Employment Protection Laws for Persons with Disabilities Effective in a Developing Country?","authors":"M. Palmer, J. Williams","doi":"10.1086/717279","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/717279","url":null,"abstract":"This paper investigates the impact of a law protecting the employment rights of persons with disabilities in Cambodia. Similar to studies in high-income countries, we find that Cambodia’s national disability law did not improve the employment situation of persons with disabilities, and may have worsened it, 4 years after implementation. The reduction in employment and hours worked of disabled persons following the law’s introduction is concentrated among employees, females, young persons, those with less than a primary school education, and those in the industrial sector. We explore supply- and demand-side explanations for the disability law’s unintended effect. On balance, the most likely explanation for the reduced work activity of disabled workers is lower demand for their labor from employers facing workplace accommodation costs and in an environment where employment quotas for disabled workers appear to have been set at nonbinding levels.","PeriodicalId":48055,"journal":{"name":"Economic Development and Cultural Change","volume":"71 1","pages":"1057 - 1092"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2021-10-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46714150","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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