Seminario de Investigación "Perceptions, Information Interventions, and High-School Graduation: Experimental Evidence from Argentina"

El seminario destinado a docentes, investigadores, becarios y estudiantes interesados en la temática, se realizó el viernes 1 de octubre a las 12:30 horas por videoconferencia, con presentación a cargo de Carolina López (Brown University).

Carolina López es PhD Candidate en Brown University (USA) e investigadora del Population Studies and Training Center de la misma universidad. Es Magíster en Economía por la UNLP y Licenciada en Economía por la Universidad Nacional de Salta. Es Investigadora Visitante del Centro de Estudios Distributivos, Laborales y Sociales (CEDLAS-UNLP) y fue becaria de CONICET. Sus investigaciones se centran en temas de desarrollo económico y microeconomía aplicada, en particular referidos a educación, capital humano y cuestiones de género.

Abstract: Low high-school graduation rates are a central challenge for the development of human capital in developing countries. I conducted an experiment in Salta, Argentina, to test whether students in their high school senior year are more likely to graduate after receiving targeted information about their chances of graduation conditional on their academic standing at the beginning of that year. I test how baseline perceptions about their own likelihood of graduation are updated after receiving this treatment and how the update in the perceptions affects the probability of graduation. I observe that a quick and cheap information intervention (conducted in a single visit to schools) increases timely high school graduation by 5 percentage points, a 10 percent increase relative to the control group. The worst performing students, with low perception of probability of graduation, are those who respond most to the treatment. In a separate treatment arm, I test a returns-to-education information intervention, and I find higher effects to previous studies (10 percentage points). Importantly, I find that both treatment arms also increase the probability of university enrollment in 5 percentage points (more than 30 percent with respect to the control group).

Autora: Carolina López (Brown University)

Organiza: Departamento de Economía, Instituto de Investigaciones Económicas y Revista Económica

Contacto: iie@econo.unlp.edu.ar

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