Experiential and Social Learning
How does a person’s own learning experience affect their ability to learn from others? We conduct a field experiment on chlorination in Pakistan, where randomized “learning-arm” households use a tool to track their children’s diarrhea before and after chlorine distribution. Learning-arm households with learning-arm neighbors chlorinate significantly more one year after the withdrawal of the tool, with children’s health improving by 0.08 SD relative to all other households receiving chlorine. Neither learning households without learning-arm neighbors, nor non-learning households with learning-arm neighbors, exhibit sustained behavior change, results which have significant implications for intervention and evaluation design.
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Copy CitationAgha A. Akram, Gabriella Fleischman, Reshmaan N. Hussam, and Akib Khan, "Experiential and Social Learning," NBER Working Paper 35410 (2026), https://doi.org/10.3386/w35410.Download Citation
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