105653 B S vi eh pe o a ci ral ResearchDigest al E Is co World Bank su no e m on ic s VOLUME 10 NUMBER 3 SPRING 2016 The Social Determination of Behavior The social environment affects our was unexpected: the fine increased IN THIS ISSUE preferences and our thinking. Some the fraction of parents who picked The Social Determination effects are momentary. But many are up their children late. Individuals of Behavior … page 1 can be thought of as having a selfish durable—and shape who we are Findings in behavioral economics suggest identity and an identity that is more possibilities for changing behavior in ways T other-oriented. Which identity gets ex- that can have persistent economic effects he assumptions in economic pressed depends on framing. Framing theory about how individuals a relationship as a cooperative venture Social Norms and Development make decisions have become evokes the socially conscious identity; Economics … page 2 contested. Hoff and Stiglitz argue in framing it as a monetary arrangement Social norms shape our behavior, not always a recent paper that individuals’ inter- evokes the selfish identity. The parents with beneficial effects. How can we change actions with others should be at the who had picked up their children on them? core of that theory. They introduce a time with no monetary incentive to Behavioral Insights to Improve distinction between two strands of do so were the same ones who picked Development Policy … page 3 findings in behavioral economics. The up their children late when they had a An understanding of what influences first strand is about universal cogni- monetary incentive to be on time. The people’s decision making offers new tools for tive biases; the second is about the incentive did not change their identi- development practitioners influence of cultural mental models, ties, but it did affect their behavior. the tools (or schemas) that mediate Two experiments in India illustrate Overcoming Behavioral Constraints our interpretation of information. the durable effects that experiences in Access to Social Programs … page 4 Pioneered by the psychologists Daniel may have on our preferences and on Behavioral barriers may prevent access to Kahneman and Amos Tversky, the the mental models we use to interpret social programs among the poorest families. first strand shows that preferences and respond emotionally to the situ- Social intermediation services can help are “frame-bound”: if you change the ations we encounter (strand two). In external frame (seemingly inconse- the first experiment, groups receiving Changing Rural Sanitation Behavior in India … page 5 quential aspects of presentation or of loans were randomly assigned to meet context at the moment of decision), either once a week or once a month. A large-scale program in rural India aims you may change the preferences. The Compared with those who met month- to increase both access to and use of latrines. Has it been effective? second, which draws on cultural and ly, individuals meeting weekly were social psychology, sociology, anthro- much less likely to default on subse- Improving the Impact of Financial pology, and neuroscience, shows that quent loans. They were more willing, Education … page 6 society shapes who we are, as defined by two years later, to pool risk with their An experiment in India shows how the set of opportunities we chronically former group members. Greater con- traditional financial education could be focus on and the kinds of decisions we tact elicited more altruism. improved to increase its effects on financial chronically make. Contrary to much earlier work sug- behaviors and outcomes As an example of a framing effect gesting that two anonymous individu- (strand one), consider the Israeli day als can almost always form efficient Using Cognitive Behavioral Therapy care center that adopted a monetary collaborations through repeated to Reduce Crime and Violence … page 7 fine to induce parents to pick up their interactions, the second experiment Antisocial behavior tends to be common children on time. This converted a found that high-caste men are much among poor young men. Can cognitive social obligation into a standard less able than low-caste men to do so. behavioral therapy help reduce it? market exchange in which parents could “buy” extra time. The response (continued on page 8) 2 World Bank ResearchDigest Social Norms and Development Economics Social norms can support The author defines a social norm norms—norms with negative conse- development or hinder it. Are there as a widely shared normative view that quences for social welfare—are not possibilities for changing norms one is required to behave in a particu- automatically changed. lar way, combined with widely shared The most pressing question for in ways that can lead to more beliefs that most people do behave in policy makers, however, is how we beneficial outcomes? this way and expect others to behave can deliberately change social norms. S in this way too. Failure to behave in Unfortunately, our knowledge about ocial norms are a pervasive the required way generally elicits some this issue is woefully incomplete. By feature of our lives. Sometimes form of sanction (or at least risk of a drawing on both theoretical insights their effect is beneficial, as when sanction), ranging from a hostile glare from the literature and a wide range they allow us to find cooperative or negative comment to social ostra- of empirical case studies of policies solutions to Prisoner’s Dilemma–type cism or even violence. The author dis- aimed at changing social norms, the situations, enable efficient coordina- cusses data from behavioral econom- author therefore outlines relevant tion, or ensure the provision of public ics about how norms work, particularly strategies for social norm change. goods. But sometimes their effect is with respect to the sanctioning system Some of these are already used by pol- not so beneficial. Social norms can and to anonymity. She also discusses icy programs; others have not yet been sustain and prescribe gender inequal- the extent to which such results hold much explored but seem plausible ity: female genital mutilation, lack of true or vary across cultures. given the nature of social norms. These education for girls, rape and domestic What is it that social norms do? include rectifying mistaken beliefs violence. Social norms of sharing and As noted, social norms often solve about what others do or think, utiliz- loyalty with kin and friends can lead to cooperation or coordination prob- ing the mechanisms of social pressure, corruption. Social norms can lead to lems, which can sometimes be of great changing the symbolic meaning of the bad health: smoking, eating unhealthy benefit to society. Social norms also social norm in question, creating or food, getting too little exercise. And allow us to signal to others what kind exploiting conflicts between different social norms about appropriate of people we are: we signal that we norms, changing the signaling func- responses to insults or the need to are reliable cooperators by complying tion of norm compliance or violations, establish a certain reputation can lead with norms, and we signal contempt, changing incentives for key actors, to violence. Because social norms dic- disrespect, or courage in the face of sending the message through the ap- tate behavior in such a wide range of social disapproval by violating norms. propriate messengers, and utilizing contexts, they can support economic Social norms also have an important how norms interact with laws. development or hinder it. symbolic function: they imbue behav- A recent paper by Eriksson outlines ior with social meaning. Consider, for what social norms are and how they example, the difference between at- work, providing examples from every- tending a funeral dressed in somber day life and from development case black clothes and doing so while wear- studies. Sometimes not much can ing a red cocktail dress. Understanding be done about changing undesirable the connection between social norms social norms; in these cases develop- and symbolic meaning is often the key ment economists need to be aware to understanding why there is resis- of how the norms can influence the tance to a change in social norms—or effects of the policies they advocate. why people keep complying even with But of particular importance to devel- norms they recognize as destructive. opment economists are the ways in A large part of the literature on which social norms can be changed. social norms deals with the questions While our understanding of social of why social norms emerge, persist, norm change is still patchy at best, and change. The author outlines what the author outlines the theoretical un- we already know about how norms derpinnings of change along with em- emerge, both through deliberate pirical evidence from various policies creation and through spontaneous aimed at changing social norms. Some processes; why norms are often so of those policies raise ethical concerns hard to change once they are in place; Lina Eriksson. 2015. “Social Norms Theory and that alternative, standard means to be- and what we know about mechanisms Development Economics.” Background Paper to havioral change do not, however, and that can nevertheless lead to a rapid, the 2015 World Development Report. Policy the paper therefore includes a discus- sometimes surprising unraveling of Research Working Paper 7450, World Bank, sion of these concerns. norms. A particular focus is why bad Washington, DC. World Bank Research Digest 3 Behavioral Insights to Improve An experiment showed that low-caste Development Policy boys can perform a maze-solving task as well as their high-caste counterparts when caste is not made salient. Yet Behavioral economics, by greatly shortcuts rather than weighing the publicly revealing boys’ castes created expanding our understanding of costs and benefits of an action. For a large performance gap between the decision making, can lead to “small example, categorizing money affects low and high castes. The fiction of in- how we use it. Parents’ savings for feriority became true when the mental miracles” relevant for development health expenses have immense poten- model was activated. “Equilibrium fic- C tial to reduce child mortality, but many tions,” in which stigmatized individuals onsider what might seem a parents fail to save for this purpose. conform to the fiction of inferiority, trivial experiment. One set of An experiment in Kenya showed that have been found for many marginal- people estimate in five seconds giving people a lockable box that func- ized groups. the product of 1 × 2 × 3 × 4 × 5 × 6 × tioned like a piggy bank, along with a Interventions can interrupt the 7 × 8, while another set do so for 8 × passbook in which they designated a feedback cycles that sustain equilib- 7 × 6 × 5 × 4 × 3 × 2 × 1. The median savings goal and recorded their depos- rium fictions. In the United States estimate was only 512 in the first set, its, increased spending on preventive students in stigmatized groups who but 2,250 in the second (the correct health products by 66–75 percent in completed self-affirmation exercises answer in both cases is 40,320). the first 12 months. The box created a improved their performance, probably The results of this and other ex- “mental account” labeled for a specific because the exercises interrupted a re- periments on judgment were reported use, and in that narrow frame using cursive downward spiral of anxiety, dis- in 1974 by the psychologists Amos money for a different purpose is per- engagement, and underperformance. Tversky and Daniel Kahneman. Their ceived as a loss, which helps subjects In India exposure to female political findings heralded a change in the resist the temptation to spend it on leaders in villages changed villag- assumptions that economists con- other things. ers’ mental models of the social role sider about human decision making. The second principle is thinking and capabilities of women, thereby What explains the vast difference in socially. Social identities and norms increasing females’ opportunities and estimates in the experiment above? influence decision making and affect aspirations. Even fictional characters Individuals first consider the most macro-level outcomes. In Israel, Arab can promote change in mental models. prominent aspect of a problem, using and Jewish judges randomly assigned Again in India, exposure to soap op- the value of this aspect as an “anchor,” to cases in small claims courts exhib- eras depicting women with enhanced and then adjust using other aspects, ited bias toward litigants from their autonomy reduced the acceptability of but generally inadequately. The an- own ethnic group. The more violence wife-beating, reduced son preference, choring bias has been widely demon- that had occurred around the court in and increased women’s autonomy. strated to affect economic decisions. the previous year, the greater the bias. Economics is often described as For example, a randomized controlled Ethnic violence may have activated the science of scarcity, but standard field trial found that changing the way judges’ ethnic social identities, which economics considers only material that borrowing costs are presented biased their judgments. There can be scarcity. It overlooks the scarcity of at- reduces consumers’ use of high-cost vicious cycles in which societal events tention and cognitive resources, the “payday” loans. trigger individual identification, which disempowering social identities and The World Bank’s World Development in turn generates behaviors that rein- norms, and the narrow mental models Report 2015: Mind, Society, and Behavior force the social divisions. Interventions that also hamper development. When surveyed psychological, sociological, that help individuals associate new people are given opportunities to see and cultural influences on decision behaviors with existing identities have situations from new perspectives and making and organized the evidence reduced conflict behavior and helped to expand their toolkits for interpreting for development. In a recent paper, people achieve future-oriented goals. situations, their behavior may change. Demeritt and Hoff, two members of The third principle is thinking with Behavioral development economics the report team, advance the notion mental models. Social identities are one yields novel insights. It expands the that behavioral development econom- kind of mental model. Mental models tools of development practitioners, ics is a coherent and promising new also include concepts, implicit as- opening opportunities for policy field. They show how the three prin- sumptions, narratives, and worldviews. makers to create what New York Times ciples forming the report’s intellectual They make up the cultural toolkit we columnist David Brooks calls “small framework are useful in diagnosing use to process information. Many miracles.” and addressing causes of underde- shared mental models improve the velopment that standard economics quality of thinking, but some lead to (based on the rational-agent model) harmful decisions. For example, the Allison Demeritt and Karla Hoff. 2015. “‘Small does not recognize. mental model of caste in India gener- Miracles’—Behavioral Insights to Improve Devel- The first principle is thinking auto- ates ill treatment of low-caste individ- opment Policy.” Policy Research Working Paper matically. We often rely on cognitive uals and lowers their self-confidence. 7197, World Bank, Washington, DC. 4 World Bank ResearchDigest Overcoming Behavioral Constraints in Access to Social Programs If well designed and implemented, countries have been developing “um- The central pillar of any social in- social intermediation services can brella” or “social intermediation” termediation service is the provision of help ensure that social assistance services, designed to support poor one-on-one support to families—and families in overcoming informational social workers are the backbone of reaches the poorest families and other barriers. These initiatives family support. To be effective, they S represent a shift away from the tradi- need to have good knowledge of exist- ocial assistance programs are tional social assistance paradigm of ing social assistance programs and of often designed under the as- providing the poor with a broad range the informational and psychosocial sumption that people have a of goods and services, toward a more barriers faced by those in extreme good understanding of what benefits personalized approach aimed at giving poverty. And they need to visit families are available and whether they are people the building blocks to over- regularly: behavioral barriers can be eligible for them. These programs come their specific challenges. overcome only if families feel that their also typically presume that people A paper by Camacho, Cunningham, constraints are understood and that make “rational” choices and correctly Rigolini, and Silva looks at two of social workers have the means to help weigh all their options and risks. For these services: Sistema Chile Solidario, them overcome these barriers. example, many of the first-generation created in 2002 as the first such service Also crucial is to keep families fo- conditional cash transfer programs in Latin America, and Red Unidos, cused on a few goals to be achieved. assumed that households, if given the implemented a few years later in Families’ attention span is limited, and proper economic incentives today, Colombia. Overall, it finds that social the more complicated family develop- would be willing to make important intermediation services can facilitate ment plans become, the less likely it decisions about their future (such as poor people’s access to social pro- is that families will be able to accom- sending their children to school or grams and health and education ser- plish them. taking infants for health checkups). vices; improve their socio-emotional Finally, ensuring quality on the Yet economic reasoning is only one well-being; and, if the right conditions supply side is as important as address- element in people’s decision-making are provided, improve their employ- ing the demand for social services. process. Informational, behavioral, ment outcomes. Yet the effectiveness Granting access to services that are and societal barriers often play a more of these services depends very much of poor quality, or that are poorly tai- important role. This is especially so for on the quality of their implementa- lored to the needs of those in chronic people in chronic poverty, who con- tion, on the tailoring of the services to or extreme poverty, may lead to little stantly face crises affecting their basic the profile and constraints of families or no impact. Sometimes the greatest needs and so may lack the “psycho- experiencing chronic or extreme pov- increase in access can be achieved by logical space” to make immediate deci- erty, and on a design that takes into working directly to solve supply-side sions that will have effects only in the account existing institutions and local constraints—such as by simplifying long run. Moreover, barriers that might conditions. enrollment procedures or improving appear to be minimal—such as pay- Social intermediation services do the quality of health services—rather ing bus fares, filling out a short form, not directly provide material benefits than by implementing a whole new inquiring about eligibility, or waiting to families; instead, they facilitate ac- program. for a few hours in a program’s office to cess to other programs. So they need receive benefits—may be insurmount- to be well integrated with the social able for some, particularly people in assistance system, and they need to extreme poverty. Those in chronic or employ well-qualified social workers extreme poverty may also have doubts who can work actively with the target about the government’s intention to population to match families to social help them: when they don’t receive programs that will address their spe- benefits because of failure to fulfill cific needs. Social intermediation ser- co-responsibilities imposed as a con- vices also need to maintain an active dition for the benefits, for example, dialogue with existing social programs they may feel penalized by those trying and have the authority to achieve ef- to help them. fective coordination. Where social ser- Adriana Camacho, Wendy Cunningham, Jamele Social programs that fail to address vices are rationed, for example, social Rigolini, and Veronica Silva. 2014. “Addressing such barriers in their design may face intermediation services may need to Access and Behavioral Constraints through relatively low take-up rates among negotiate priority access for their ben- Social Intermediation Services: A Review of Chile the poorest families—the very people eficiaries or advocate for tailoring the Solidario and Red Unidos.” Policy Research they are intended to reach. In response design of available programs to their Working Paper 7136, World Bank, Washington, to this challenge, Latin American beneficiaries’ needs. DC. World Bank Research Digest 5 Changing Rural Sanitation Behavior in India Ensuring access to and use of resources on these interventions—and percent to 73 percent. But it did not latrines in rural India could improve whether improvements are needed in improve child health as measured on child health. But doing so on a large program design or implementation. the basis of multiple health outcomes, One large-scale rural sanitation including the prevalence of gastroin- scale involves big challenges program is in India, where 60 percent testinal illnesses and intestinal para- H of people who practice open defeca- site infections. Nor did it improve child undreds of thousands of young tion live and a quarter of global child growth. children die each year in devel- deaths from diarrheal diseases occur. The findings indicate that in rural oping countries from causes This is the Total Sanitation Campaign Madhya Pradesh the TSC only slightly linked to diarrheal diseases. And (TSC), initiated in 1999. The TSC in- increased the availability of individual many young children in these coun- cludes activities designed to change household latrines and only slightly tries suffer poor health and growth social norms and behaviors and pro- decreased the practice of open defeca- outcomes because of infection with vides technical and financial support tion. These modest improvements in enteric pathogens (organisms such as for latrine building. Until recently there sanitation and in defecation behaviors bacteria, viruses, and parasites that had been no published studies that were insufficient to improve health infect the human intestine or gut). rigorously evaluated whether the TSC outcomes among children. Open defecation is thought to be a improved child health or not. A paper The accuracy of the findings may be major contributor to the burden of by Patil, Arnold, Salvatore, Briceno, limited by some aspects of the study. diarrhea and intestinal parasite infec- Ganguly, Colford, and Gertler reports For example, several control villages tion among children. This practice can the results of such an evaluation in actually received the intervention, expose people to direct contact with rural Madhya Pradesh, one of India’s which means that the findings prob- human feces containing infectious less developed states. The study in- ably underestimate the effect of the pathogens and also contaminate food vestigated the effect of the TSC on the intervention under perfect conditions. and drinking water. availability of individual household Self-reporting of defecation behavior, Open defecation can be reduced by latrines, defecation behaviors, and availability of sanitation facilities, and ensuring that people have access to child health. gastrointestinal illnesses among chil- and use toilets or latrines. Programs The study was a cluster random- dren may also have biased the find- aimed at doing so have been initi- ized controlled trial, a design that ings. Finally, because TSC implementa- ated in many developing countries, randomly assigns groups of people to tion varies widely across India, these with a focus on changing behaviors receive an intervention and compares findings may not apply to other Indian and providing technical and financial the outcomes with a control group that states or to different implementation support to help households build im- does not receive the intervention. The strategies. proved latrines (such as pit latrines researchers enrolled 5,209 children Overall, the findings highlight the with sealed squat plates). However, in under age five living in 3,039 house- challenges associated with achieving 2011, according to the WHO/UNICEF holds in 80 rural villages in Madhya large enough improvement in access Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Pradesh. Half the villages (40), chosen to sanitation and correspondingly Supply and Sanitation, more than at random, were included in the TSC large reductions in the practice of open 1 billion people (15 percent of the (the intervention). Field staff collected defecation to deliver health benefits global population) still defecated in data on sanitation conditions, defeca- through large-scale rural sanitation the open. tion behaviors, and child health from programs. Studies have shown that interven- caregivers in each household at the tions that prevent human feces from start of the study and after the TSC had entering the environment reduce diar- been implemented in the intervention rheal diseases and intestinal parasite villages. A random subsample of chil- infections. But much of the research dren were also tested for infection with has focused on the provision of sewer- intestinal parasites. age systems in urban areas. Little is Results show that the intervention known about how rural sanitation pro- increased the share of households in grams, which usually focus on provid- a village with improved sanitation fa- Sumeet R. Patil, Benjamin F. Arnold, Alicia L. Salvatore, Bertha Briceno, Sandipan Ganguly, ing stand-alone sanitation facilities, cilities by 19 percentage points (with John M. Colford Jr., and Paul J. Gertler. 2014. affect the health of young children. this share averaging 41 percent in the “The Effect of India’s Total Sanitation Campaign Governments and international do- intervention group and 22 percent in on Defecation Behaviors and Child Health in nors need to know whether large-scale the control group). The intervention Rural Madhya Pradesh: A Cluster Random- rural sanitation programs improve also decreased the share of adults who ized Controlled Trial.” PLOS Medicine 11 (8): child health before spending more self-reported open defecation, from 84 e1001709. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1001709. 6 World Bank ResearchDigest Improving the Impact of Financial Education Addressing behavioral constraints treatment tested for insufficient mo- Financial education alone is no pana- through goal setting and tivation as a barrier to the acquisition cea when it comes to improving the personalized counseling can of financial knowledge financial well-being of improve the effectiveness of and subsequent behav- Traditional low-income households ior change by providing in developing countries. financial education half the participants a approaches to To improve financial financial education outcomes for these con- C cash incentive for cor- onsumers’ ability to make in- rect answers on a fi- formed decisions about money is nancial knowledge test. need to be delivered sumers, financial educa- tion interventions need crucial for both household well- The second treatment more strategically to be complemented being and financial system stability. was meant to address Recognizing this, developing country self-control problems in order to have an with personalized add-ons such as goal governments, nonprofit organizations, by encouraging half effect on financial setting and individual and other institutions working in the the participants to set counseling. These find- field of development have in recent short-term, achievable, behaviors and ings could help policy years placed increasing emphasis on but noncompulsory fi- outcomes makers, nonprofit or- financial literacy. These institutions nancial goals. The third, ganizations, and others have developed financial education aimed at understanding the potential seeking to expand financial inclusion programs, spurred by the rapid growth for structural factors that hinder the ef- to design more effective financial edu- of financial services—including micro- ficacy of financial education, provided cation initiatives. finance and mobile money—as well as intensive, individual counseling ser- by concerns stemming from the recent vices to half the participants. financial crisis. But evidence on the Which aspects were successful, and efficacy of these programs has been to what extent? The financial educa- mixed, providing little guidance on tion alone resulted in better perfor- which aspects of financial education mance on a financial knowledge exam: succeed in improving financial behav- participants receiving financial educa- ior and outcomes and which do not. tion but no pay for performance had In a recent paper Carpena, Cole, test scores 10 percent higher on aver- Shapiro, and Zia seek to better under- age than the control group did. The ad- stand the barriers that prevent people ditional effect of pay for performance who receive financial education from was insignificant in both practical and translating their greater financial statistical terms, however. And finan- knowledge into action. By investigat- cial education, whether alone or with ing three supplemental mechanisms pay for performance, brought about no for delivering financial education, the changes in financial behavior. authors also seek to gain insight into By contrast, the goal-setting in- how to more effectively improve finan- tervention resulted in an increase in cial outcomes. Their study involves a relatively simple changes in financial randomized evaluation of more than behavior, such as attempting to write a 1,300 low-income people in India. Two- budget, beginning to save informally, thirds of the sample were randomly and avoiding borrowing for unforeseen selected to receive a five-week, video- expenses. The individual counseling based financial education program services, meanwhile, allowed partici- covering financial behaviors (including pants to engage in costlier and more budgeting, savings, credit, and insur- difficult financial behaviors, including ance), while the other third served as a regularly writing a budget and opening control group. a formal savings account at a bank. Among those participating in the These results suggest that tradi- financial education training, three ad- tional approaches to financial educa- Fenella Carpena, Shawn Cole, Jeremy Shapiro, ditional treatments were randomly tion can help improve consumers’ and Bilal Zia. 2015. “The ABCs of Financial assigned, each designed to investigate financial knowledge and awareness, Education: Experimental Evidence on Attitudes, potential impediments to the transla- but need to be delivered more stra- Behavior, and Cognitive Biases.” Policy Research tion of improved financial knowledge tegically in order to have an effect on Working Paper 7413, World Bank, Washington, into financial outcomes. The first financial behaviors and outcomes. DC. World Bank Research Digest 7 Using Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to Reduce Crime and Violence Can cognitive behavioral therapy treatment, in the sense that it could drugs or “wasteful” things. Most funds help reduce antisocial behavior stimulate legal self-employment and were invested in business or saved. among poor young men? An could be directly compared with the Cash led to a short-term increase in therapy. To deliver both treatments petty trading and income. After a year, experiment in Liberia suggests that cost about $530 a person. however, these gains disappeared, in it can CBT is an approach used to al- part because most men were robbed M leviate a range of harmful beliefs and regularly, regardless of treatment. any countries have high rates behaviors, including depression, anger, That the cash grant was crucial to of crime, violence, and other and impulsivity. It tries to make people sustaining the effects of therapy is the antisocial behaviors among aware of and then to challenge or dis- most unexpected and important find- poor young men. In fragile states such rupt harmful, automatic patterns of ing. Since cash had no sustained ef- men may also be mobilized into voter thinking or behavior by practicing new fect on earnings, economic incentives intimidation, rioting, and rebellion. behaviors. Among noncognitive skills, do not explain the sustained effect of Besides having direct costs, crime and STYL focused foremost on self-control. therapy plus cash on crime and aggres- instability hinder economic growth This includes greater short-term abili- sion. Drawing on qualitative interviews by leading to lower investment or to ties to regulate one’s emotions and re- and psychological theory, the authors greater allocation of resources to se- sist impulse, as well as more sustained suggest that the short-term increase in curity. Two of the most common gov- abilities to plan, to persevere, and to income and legal employment helped ernment responses are policing and be patient. The therapy also tried to to solidify therapy’s impact on self- job creation. Both take the person as encourage nonviolent, noncriminal control skills and values. Specifically, they are and try to change their incen- preferences by fostering a change in for a few months after therapy, cash tives or simply incarcerate them. In a the men’s self-image from outcasts to allowed men to project a changed self, recent paper Blattman, Jamison, and mainstream members of society. to stave off homelessness and stealing, Sheridan investigate an alternative: Men who received therapy dramati- and to further practice the behavioral changing behavior by shaping people’s cally reduced their antisocial behavior. change started by therapy. underlying skills, identity, and values. Within a few weeks their drug deal- Besides evaluating the pairing of A large literature has shown that a ing fell by half and thefts by a third an economic intervention with CBT, broad set of noncognitive skills predict compared with controls. With therapy the study addresses several important long-run economic performance and alone, these effects diminished after gaps in the literature. The most obvi- criminal activity. These skills respond a year. When therapy was followed by ous are the absence of evidence out- to investment, especially in childhood, cash, however, the effects were lasting. side the United States and the impor- but there is little evidence on the re- A year later, those who had received tance of such evidence in fragile states. turns to similar investment in young both therapy and cash were 44 percent The malleability of self-image is con- adults. It’s also unclear what specific less likely to be carrying a weapon and sistent with evidence from stigmatized skills are both important and mallea- 43 percent less likely to sell drugs. Indian sex workers, for whom short ble. To investigate, the authors recruit- They also reported lower aggression courses of non-CBT psychological ed high-risk men, generally ages 18–35, and a reduction in the number of therapy increased self-worth, reduced in Liberia’s capital. Most were engaged crimes, from 66 a year on average to shame, and increased savings and in part-time theft and drug dealing and 30. By comparison, men in the control health-seeking behavior. This approach regularly had violent confrontations group reported stealing almost once a is likely to be applicable across a wide with one another, with community week on average. range of development contexts. members, and with police. Therapy probably worked through The authors analyze the results many channels, but there is evidence of two randomized interventions. of improvement in three pathways in One was eight weeks of group cogni- particular: self-control skills, economic tive behavioral therapy (CBT) called time preferences, and anticriminal the STYL program, for Sustainable values. Treatment effects are similar Transformation of Youth in Liberia. across topics, whether or not empha- Following this, participants as well as sized in the STYL curriculum. This, the control group were eligible for a along with an extensive qualitative Christopher Blattman, Julian C. Jamison, and second lottery, for a $200 grant—equal validation exercise, gives confidence Margaret Sheridan. 2016. “Reducing Crime and to about three months’ wages. The in the results despite the use of self- Violence: Experimental Evidence on Adult Non- cash was partly a measurement tool, reported outcome measures. cognitive Investments in Liberia.” Policy Research to see whether therapy affected eco- How was cash used? Regardless of Working Paper 7648, World Bank, Washington, nomic decisions. The cash was also a therapy, little of the grant was spent on DC. 8 World Bank ResearchDigest (continued from page 1) High-caste men adhere more strongly relationship (trains run on tracks, and Recent Policy Research to the culture of honor, in which a loss rabbits eat carrots), and two belong Working Papers from a coordination failure may be to the same abstract category (vehicle perceived as a challenge, which trig- or animal). In an experiment with 5137 Changing Households’ Investments and gers retaliation. Retaliation can beget more than 1,000 university students Aspirations through Social Interactions retaliation and make it impossible to across China, the percentage of the Karen Macours and Renos Vakis 6240 Psychology and Behavioral Economics Lessons sustain collaborative arrangements. cultivated area in the respondent’s for the Design of a Green Growth Strategy Behavioral economics has broad home province devoted to rice paddy Elke U. Weber and Eric J. Johnson 6545 Gender Differences in the Effects of implications for policy. Behavior is of- predicted the extent of pairing based Vocational Training: Constraints on Women ten best described as if individuals had on functional relationships. The home and Drop-Out Behavior Yoonyoung Cho, Davie Kalomba, Ahmed multiple identities. Policy can change province’s ecology—which largely de- Mushfiq Mobarak, and Victor Orozco behavior by changing cues, language, termines the extent of rice cultivation 6595 Behavioral Economics and Public Sector Reform: An Accidental Experiment and default options, reference sets, and (a crop demanding exceptionally high Lessons from Cameroon comparison groups that affect which collaboration)—influences how people Gaël Raballand and Anand Rajaram identity gets expressed in a given think! 6825 HIV Testing, Behavior Change, and the Transition to Adulthood in Malawi situation. Societies can be rigid because Kathleen Beegle, Michelle Poulin, and Gil Shapira Policy also can change behavior by the prevailing institutions shape the 6869 Son Preference, Fertility and Family changing who an individual is (that mental models that individuals use Structure: Evidence from Reproductive is, the mental models through which to interpret and respond to the situa- Behavior among Nigerian Women Annamaria Milazzo he chronically sees himself and the tions they are in. On the other hand, 7198 Behavioral Economics and Social Exclusion: world). It can do this by exposing in- large-scale, more or less simultaneous Can Interventions Overcome Prejudice? Karla Hoff dividuals to unfamiliar social patterns frame switches by many interdepen- 7233 Information, Knowledge and Behavior: and experiences—for example, to dent agents can cause large-scale so- Evaluating Alternative Methods of Delivering School Information to Parents self-affirmation exercises, to women cial changes. Hoff and Stiglitz show in Pedro Cerdan-Infantes and Deon Filmer who are educated and active in politics simple models how social influences 7653 Markets and Manipulation: Time for a Paradigm Shift? and professions, or to soap operas can shift trust, beliefs, and parents’ Kaushik Basu with characters who have few or no preferences for educating daughters. children. Interventions that change mental The metaphorical distinction often models can have persistent economic made between hardware (the brain) effects, even without direct effects on and software (culture) is less rigid than incentives, endowments, technology, the standard vocabulary suggests. or information—the key targets of in- Experience can alter the brain and tervention in traditional economics. the way it operates. Here is a simple example in categorization: What is the Karla Hoff and Joseph E. Stiglitz. 2016. “Striving most natural pair in {train, bus, track} for Balance in Economics: Towards a Theory of the or {dog, rabbit, carrots}? There is no Social Determination of Behavior.” Policy Research Working Papers can be downloaded at http://econ.worldbank.org single correct answer. In each triad, Working Paper 7537, World Bank, Washington, To download the World Bank Research E-Newsletter, two of the items share a functional DC. go to http://econ.worldbank.org/research_newsletter The World Bank Research Digest is a quarterly publica- The Research Digest is financed by the Bank’s Editorial Committee: Indermit S. Gill (managing editor), tion disseminating findings of World Bank research. Research Committee and managed by DECDP, the Aslı Demirgüç-Kunt, and Shiva S. Makki. Editor: Alison The views and interpretations in the articles are those research support unit of the Development Economics Strong; production: Roula Yazigi. 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