Grants
Funding for Research Projects
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Biased Beliefs and Search in Education Markets
Donor: National Science Foundation (NSF)
Date: 2019
Amount: $558589
Number: 1919504
This research will use experimental methods to study the reasons parents make school choices with very little information about options available to them. The research will study the relative importance of two mechanisms through which this occurs: (i) difficulty and cost of acquiring information about school characteristics, and/or (ii) families have incorrect beliefs about the distribution of schools, believing that all schools are the same. The research will develop a theoretical model based on parent?s beliefs about school quality and how these beliefs change as they receive new information. The research will then test this theory by providing different amounts of information to parents to see how this affects their school choice decisions. The pilot study was conducted in 2017 and the first research paper is titled Search Costs, Biased Beliefs and School Choice under Endogenous Consideration Sets, coauthored with Adam Kapor, Claudia Allende and Patrick Agte.
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Beliefs, Understanding, and Strategic Behavior in School Choice Mechanisms
Donor: National Science Foundation (NSF)
Date: 2016
Amount: $457853
Number: 1629226
The project combines a household survey measuring the preferences, sophistication, and beliefs of potential school choice participants with administrative records of school choice and, academic outcomes to estimate a latent utility model of school choice participation. We will conduct this study in the context of the public school district in New Haven, Connecticut , which uses a centralized mechanism closely related to the “immediate acceptance” or “Boston” algorithm to administer school choice.
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Learning the Value of Education in the Dominican Republic
Donor: DIV-USAID
Date: 2015
Amount: $1498979
Number: AID-0AA-F-14-00030
Large scale impact evaluation implemented in conjunction with the government of the Dominican Republic (IDEICE) that looks to increase investment in human capital by reducing information frictions among adults and children regarding the cost, benefit and feasibility of higher education levels. A panel of in depth house hold surveys are conducted on a custom designed application measure time use, parental investments and labor supply decisions. Administrative data is used to evaluate the impact and survey data is used through the lens of a dynamic human capital accumulation model to study the mechanisms through which information on financial aid, returns to levels of education and to field of study can affect investment in human capital and labor supply.
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Getting Children to Stay in School and out of work: The role of Informative and Persuasive Marketing
Donor: United States Department of Labor
Date: 2015
Amount: $977690
Number: IL-26701-14-75-K-9
Large scale impact evaluation to assess how the provision of this information affects drop-out rates and parents’ and students’ perceptions and decisions. A panel of in depth house hold surveys are conducted on a custom designed application measure time use, parental investments and labor supply decisions. Administrative data is used to evaluate the impact and survey data is used through the lens of a dynamic human capital accumulation model to study the mechanisms through which information on financial aid, returns to levels of education and to field of study can affect investment in human capital and labor supply. The project is in collaboration with Peruvian Government and Innovations for Poverty Action.
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Leveraging Administrative Data and Machine Learning Techniques to Improve Education Policy in Developing Countries
Donor: Microsoft Research
Date: 2017
Amount: $20000
Number:
This projects looks to take advantage of the extensive scalable computational resources provided by cloud computing to use large administrative datasets and machine learning techniques to help inform policies that will help reduce the date: amount of students that drop out of school in developing countries.
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Evaluating online platform to reduce information asymmetries w/in students and parents
Donor: Peruvian Government and International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (BIRF)
Date: 2016
Amount: $202000
Number: 038-2016/BIRF 8212-PE
Studying the role of information asymmetries in higher education choice in the Peruvian market and how informative online platforms can help shift educational choices. Ministry of Education and Innovations for Poverty Action are leading the project.
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Education Mismatch and Information about Relative Performance
Donor: Post Primary Initiative JPAL Global
Date: 2016
Amount: $50000
Number: 5710004043
Large scale impact evaluation implemented in conjunction with the government of the Dominican Republic (Pruebas Nacionales and IDEICE) looks to inform students of high academic performance through letters that contain information and motivational messages. Its main goal is to reduce dropout rates in developing countries. Currently working partnered with the government in the Dominican Republic, Peru, and Chile. JPAL and the government of the Dominican Republic are the leaders of this project.
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Building a better future with informed investment in higher education: Evaluating the impact of personalized provision of information on earnings and financial aid in the Dominican Republic
Donor: Skills for Youth Program, J-PAL LAC
Date: 2018
Amount: $49479
Number: N/A
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Financial Aid and College Access in the Dominican Republic
Donor: Post Primary Education Initiative, J-PAL
Date: 2018
Amount: $256893
Number: N/A
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Reducing free-riding in public goods: An experimental approach to improving payment compliance for trash collection in the Dominican Republic
Donor: Governance Initiative, J-PAL
Date: 2018
Amount: $48990
Number: N/A
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Incubation of Human Capital Technology Organization
Donor: Philanthropic Fund
Date: 2018
Amount: $500000
Number: N/A
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How the Design of School Choice Systems Affects Welfare and Student Outcomes
Donor: Overdeck Princeton Education Fund
Date: 2019
Amount: $85000
Number: N/A