TY  - JOUR
AU  - Dupas,Pascaline
TI  - Do Teenagers Respond to HIV Risk Information? Evidence from a Field Experiment in Kenya
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 14707
PY  - 2009
Y2  - February 2009
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w14707
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w14707.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Pascaline Dupas
Department of Economics
Stanford University
579 Serra Mall
Stanford, CA 94305-6072
E-Mail: pdupas@stanford.edu
AB  - I use a randomized experiment to test whether information can change sexual behavior among teenagers in Kenya. Providing information on the relative risk of HIV infection by partner's age led to a 28% decrease in teen pregnancy, an objective proxy for the incidence of unprotected sex. Self-reported sexual behavior data suggests substitution away from older (riskier) partners and towards protected sex with same-age partners. In contrast, the national abstinence-only HIV education curriculum had no impact on teen pregnancy. These results suggest that teenagers are responsive to risk information but their sexual behavior is more elastic on the intensive than on the extensive margin.
ER  -