Publication: The Heterogeneous Effect of Information on Student Performance: Evidence from a Randomized Control Trial in Mexico
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Published
2015-09
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Date
2015-11-04
Author(s)
de Hoyos, Rafael
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Abstract
A randomized control trial was conducted to study whether providing 10th grade students with information about the returns to upper secondary and tertiary education, and a source of financial aid for tertiary education, can contribute to improve student performance. The study finds that the intervention had no effects on the probability of taking a 12th grade national standardized exam three years after, a proxy for on-time high school completion, but a positive and significant impact on learning outcomes and self-reported measures of effort. The effects are larger for girls and students from households with a relatively high income. These findings are consistent with a simple model where time discount determines the increase in effort and only students with adequate initial conditions are able to translate increased effort into better outcomes.
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“de Hoyos, Rafael; Avitabile, Ciro. 2015. The Heterogeneous Effect of Information on Student Performance: Evidence from a Randomized Control Trial in Mexico. Policy Research Working Paper;No. 7422. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/22845 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
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