1,721,048 research outputs found
Mechanisms behind substance abuse and rugby. Lessons from a field experiment with incarcerated offenders
Full text linkThere are a broad range of rehabilitation programs but results differ significantly among them, from positive to no-effect programs –and even to negative-effect programs. Hence, in order to guide policy, it is necessary to find out the features that should be present in programs for inmates to guarantee positive effects. We used a random assignment to evaluate an innovative rehabilitation program –rugby classes offered by players of the national team- for incarcerated offenders in an overcrowded prison in Uruguay. We find the program positively influences inmates’ behavior, lowering the consumption of drugs. Also, studying the mechanisms behind these findings, our results suggest that the program fosters healthier conduct and positive social attitudes. After studying the criminogenic attitudes addressed by this rugby program, we suggest lines for policy
Brecha de género en la educación secundaria
Full text linkEn América Latina, el debate acerca de los resultados heterogéneos en educación formal se ha centrado en las diferencias entre pobres y ricos. Este foco ha guidado a los diseñadores de política. Existen, sin embargo, otras profundas diferencias que reciben escasa o nula atención en la política pública de la región, entre ellas, la brecha educativa por género. El presente estudio
se centra en comparar el comportamiento de los hombres respecto a las mujeres en tres variables claves para los logros educativos: el atraso escolar, la deserción del sistema formal y las tasas de culminación de los distintos niveles educativos. Explotamos la existencia de datos representativos de toda la población de Uruguay durante 24 años (Encuesta Continua de Hogares: 1990-2013) y datos provenientes de la Encuesta Nacional a la Juventud y Adolescencia (2008). El foco está en la adolescencia (de 13 a 18 años), que es donde se concentran los indicadores de turbulencias en materia académica en América Latina. Nuestras mediciones muestran una brecha sistemática, con un signo persistente en todo el período: los adolescentes varones presentan mayores tasas de rezago y deserción, y menores tasas de culminación del ciclo básico y bachillerato. Este hallazgo es robusto en los diferentes contextos de ingresos del hogar, ciudad de procedencia, ascendencia étnica, centro educativo público o privado, y estructura familiar. Y, llamativamente, la magnitud de esta brecha ha permanecido inalterada en todo el período considerado. El estudio analiza posibles explicaciones detrás de estos resultados, y finaliza obteniendo datos cualitativos mediante entrevistas a docentes de educación secundaria, que trabajan en centros educativos de diferentes contextos. La incapacidad de eliminar la brecha y la predominancia de la desmotivación como factor explicativo, constituyen un fuerte impulso para futuras investigaciones y una llamada de atención para el diseño de política
educativa, reclamando la necesidad de tener en cuenta la singularidad del individuo por género
Marriage as a protective factor against intimate partner violence suffered by women. Exploring mechanisms
Full text linkResearch has consistently found that married women experienced less intimate partner violence (IPV) than cohabiting ones. However, most existing studies focus on the incidence of IPV as a binary indicator, while the severity of that exposure or the different types of violence has been largely ignored. This article begins to address these issues with a multivariate approach, for some Latin American countries. The study reports that married women suffered less violence than cohabiting women for each singular type of violence, even after controlling by education, age, locality, wealth, and personal violence history. This article proposes a novel mechanism that helps to explain these findings: marriage would provide a framework that fosters investment in the quality of the couple's relationship, thus preventing IPV. The estimates on the couple's investments support these predictions
Hope and commitment. Lessons from a randomize control trial in a shanty town
Full text linkThis paper documents the impact of an after-school program called Apoyo Escolar, sited in the most ulnerable neighborhood of a developing country. The outcomes of interest are academic achievement, behavior in the classroom and grade repetition. We designed a field experiment exploiting the existence of oversubscription to the program. We found a novel result that should guide policy design for vulnerable children: increasing time spent in safe, supervised settings does not guarantee academic success. The after-school program is effective in improving academic performance when children have committed parents. This finding is crucial for policy because it is not be enough to merely take children off of the streets, parents’ commitment is needed. Interestingly, results show that students’ performance at school is highly correlated with parents’ educational expectations. This correlation fosters future research that may be designed specifically to explore the causal impact of expectations on educational attainment among disadvantaged children
Giving a second chance: an after-school program in a shantytown interacting with parents´ type
Full text linkMost discussion of after-school programs in shantytowns has centered on estimating mean impacts of programs, and results are not conclusive. Previous literature provides some explanations for these mixed results but this paper provides a new channel: the
effectiveness of an after-school program on students depends on their parents’ type. One can argue that those parents who live in a shantytown may be there due to their bad type or because of bad luck (good type parents who are in a shantytown because they had bad luck in their lives but if they received an opportunity –such as an after-school program for their children- they would exploit it). The complementarities between after-school and parents’ good type are not obvious. Is a good policy to suggest responsible and committed parents to leave their children many hours a day in an after-school program? Would be better for those children to remain at home in contact with their committed parents? Should policy be directed to the children of bad type parents? By using random assignment to evaluate an after-school program in a developing country, we find that it is effective in raising children’s school achievement for those whose parents are of good type. Thus, this paper provides evidence that the knowledge of the distribution of impacts is crucial to guide public policy and it is not enough just to change the environments in which youth spend their afterschool hours, increasing time in safe, supervised settings
Gender differences to relative performance feedback: a field experiment in education
Full text linkIndividuals care about both their absolute performance and their performance relative to others. For example, workers satisfaction is affected not only by their nominal wage but also by the comparison of their salaries relative to colleagues. We analyze the effect of providing relative performance feedback using a field experiment with university students. Untreated students misplace themselves in the grade distribution. Poor performing students over report their placement (they say that they have a better position in the classroom ranking than they actually have). On the other hand, good students (especially women) under place themselves: they report that they don’t perform as well as they actually do. We experimentally change the information that treated students have, so they know exactly how they perform relative to their peers. We find that the information feedback has asymmetric effects for men and women. Treated men report higher satisfaction with their GPA while treated women report less satisfaction, regardless of their position in the grade distribution. We also show that this non-monetary incentive caused a decrease in women academic performance. Two possible channels may explain our results: women may shy away from competition and they face an increasing marginal cost of effort. More information is not always beneficial for everybody
Family structural influences on children's education attainment: evidence from Uruguay
Full text linkAs the developed world has experienced a shift away from the traditional two biological parent family, scholars have sought to understand how children are faring in non-traditional homes. Debate has arisen over assertions that children from non traditional families do less well in school. Concerns about selection issues as well as a paucity of cross-cultural evidence, have led some scholars to question the causal influence of family structure on educational attainment. Using data from the 2006 Uruguayan household survey, we evaluate the influence of family structure on education using two different methods to deal with selection problems, an instrumental variables approach and propensity score matching. Both approaches yield evidence that growing up in non-traditional family structures has a negative causal impact on the schooling of Uruguayan boys, with more muted results for girls. (JEL: I2, J1
Advancing academic opportunities for disadvantaged youth: third year impact evaluation of a privately-managed school in a poor neighbourhood in Montevideo
Full text linkWe study the three-year impact of a private tuition-free middle school on theacademic outcomes of poor students. Several features of the treatment school fit withinnovative paradigms that have delivered successful outcomes in poor urban areas. Our research design exploits the excess of applicants over the school capacity andthe fact that participants were selected randomly. Specifically, we follow a cohort ofstudents that entered middle school in 2010 and that were randomly assigned toattend the treatment school or public school as usual. We find that the treatmentschool impacted favorably on students’ academic advancement and athcompetencies. Also, the treatment school had a positive–and quite robust over time-impact on students’ and their parents’ academic expectations. This culture of highexpectations has been previously identified in the literature as a key input for schoolsuccess
Giving a second chance: an after-school program in a shanty town interacted with parent type
Full text linkMost discussion of after-school programs in shanty towns has focused on estimating their
average effects. The results of these programs are inconclusive and the explanation may
be that the effects are heterogeneous. In this paper, we study the influence of how
heterogeneity in the type of parents involved in the program affects the performance of
their children at school. We measure performance at school according to academic
achievement, behavior and grade retention. In line with previous literature, we employ
the number of books at home as a proxy for parent type. By using random assignment to
evaluate an after-school program in a developing-country shanty town, we find that it is
effective in raising children’s school achievement for those with a committed parent type.
Thus, this paper provides evidence that the knowledge of the distribution of effects is
crucial to guiding public policy and it is not enough just to change the environment in
which young people spend their after school hours, increasing time in safe, supervised
settings, it is also necessary to take parenting type into account
Joint-liability vs. individual incentives in the classroom. Lessons from a field experiment with undergraduate student
Full text linkWe evaluate the impact of joint-liabilityincentives in the classroomusing a randomized field experiment.The instructor designsgroups of three studentsin the classroom and providesa premiumto their homework's gradeonly if all three members of the groupmeetsome requirements. To isolate the joint-liability effect from selfish motivations, we also design an individual incentives treatment. We find that joint-liabilityincentives impact positively on the grades attained in homework and midterm exams both in experimental coursesand in other courses taken by the students in the semester.Though the average positive effect seems to disappear in final exams, the overall impact of joint-liabilityincentives on the academic achievements in the semester is still positive. A drawback of this program is a decrease in classmate satisfaction. The significant effectiveness of the peer monitoring developed by joint-liability incentivesin a group providesnovelimplications for the design of grading policies in the classroom and for other social settings where incentives may be based in peer monitoring or joint liability
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