Crossing the Finish Line: Intervening in a Critical Period for Educational Investment

Early fertility is common among low-income female university students resulting in high dropout rates among these students even though family planning services are available. This award funds research that uses field experiments and modern economic theory to test whether two low-cost interventions will be effective in reducing dropout rates due to unplanned pregnancies among these students. The first experiment tests whether combining financial incentives with directed information campaign can change beliefs about the perceived link between delaying childbirth earlier in life and infertility in later life. The second experiment tests whether providing female students with unconditional cash transfer will reduce risky behavior among these students and thus increase graduation rates. In addition to contribution to economics science, the results of this research will inform policy makers on how best to ensure that highly talented women who enter universities are able to graduate and join the labor force. The results of this research will contribute to improving the quality of the female labor force, increase labor productivity, economic growth, and the general standard of living.

This award funds research that combines original data collection with administrative data with RCTs to study the effectiveness of two interventions in reducing dropout rates among low-income female university students. The first experiment measures the impact of an intervention that targets the pervasive belief that contraceptive use causes infertility later in life; the treatment combines cash transfers with targeted information delivery and compares this treatment to a non-coercive conditional cash transfer program designed to get women to a family planning clinic. This approach will allow the PIs to establish causality; something previous research has not done. The second RCT will measure the impact of UCT to female students to see if it reduces risky behavior of these students as coping mechanisms for financial hardships. Besides contribution to the development economics literature, the results of this research will provide inputs into policies to increase graduation of female students. The results would contribute to improved human capital formation, increased productivity, economic growth, and improved living standards for all. The research results could also decrease income inequality.