Research

Abstract: We study a radio literacy program aimed at rural adults. Radio Sutatenza, active in Colombia between 1947 and 1994, used a network of radio schools run by volunteers from their homes and offered a low-cost alternative to traditional brick-and-mortar schools. We find no evidence of increases in adult literacy, and our findings suggest that the student population who selected into the program was significantly more educated than the average rural Colombian adult. We then exploit the staggered arrival of the program across municipalities to evaluate its effects on younger cohorts’ education. We find unintended positive effects on primary school completion for children exposed to the program in their early years, suggesting that radio schools fostered spillovers in human capital accumulation.

Abstract: We study a natural experiment in Argentina, where low-income women were selected through a lottery system to receive a house and a heavily subsidized long-term mortgage. We exploit the random assignment to estimate the causal link between subsidized homeownership programs and intimate partner violence (IPV). Our analysis utilizes administrative records of the population of women applicants to assess the impact of homeownership on IPV, differentiating between women under joint-ownership contracts with their partners and those under single-ownership contracts. We find that the program causes an increase in IPV for women under joint-ownership contracts and a decrease in IPV for women under single-ownership contracts. Our results highlight the importance of considering the design of subsidized homeownership programs and explicitly incorporating measures to facilitate exit from conflicting relationships.

Abstract: Does providing information improve citizens’ perception of government transparency? Does all information matter the same for shaping perceptions about the government? This article addresses these questions in the context of an online randomized survey experiment conducted in Argentina. Results show that providing information to citizens matters in shaping perceptions about transparency, and the content of that information matters in affecting the evaluation people make about the government. Those who received a treatment showing that the government was over-performing on its promises had higher trust in the government than those who received a treatment showing that the government was under-performing. The evidence highlights that the relationship between transparency and trust may be mediated by the performance of the government. Our complementary analytical discussion shows that the rules for disclosing information may be important for transparency to matter. 

Abstract: We provide experimental evidence on the effect of peer pressure on individual behavior. Specifically, we study the effect of being exposed to an observer in a public restroom on handwashing and urinal flushing behavior. Our estimates show that being exposed to an observer increases the probability of handwashing by 13 percentage points and the probability of urinal flushing by 15 percentage points. Given that handwashing and urinal flushing have social benefits that exceed individual benefits, our findings provide support for peer pressure as an additional way of addressing the social suboptimality arising from externalities.