Collaborative Research: Experimental Evidence on the Returns to Vocational Education in Kenya

合作研究：肯尼亚职业教育回报的实验证据

• 批准号: 0962614
• 负责人: Edward Miguel
• 金额: $ 35.62万
• 依托单位: University of California-Berkeley
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-07-01 至 2014-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0962614&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Experimental; Evidence; Returns

Project Summary: "Experimental Evidence on the Returns to Vocational Education in Kenya"Youth unemployment is among the most pressing social and economic problems facing less developed countries, yet too little is known about how best to smooth the school-to-work transition or boost human capital for those not on the academic schooling track. Vocational education is one promising avenue for addressing the problem, especially through the dynamic private vocational sector. This project will study impacts of a vocational education voucher program among Kenyan youth, using a randomized design together with an innovative panel dataset. This is the first (to the investigators' knowledge) randomized evaluation of a vocational education intervention in Africa and builds on ten years of detailed information in the Kenyan Life Panel Survey (KLPS) dataset.The intellectual merit of the proposed research is its reliance on a credible research design and unique dataset to address at least four central questions in the fields of development, labor and public economics:(1) What are the returns to education in Africa? The proposed project will estimate the impact of vocational education on formal sector employment, labor market earnings, entrepreneurship decisions, migration (within Kenya and abroad), remittances and fertility. Approximately 2,160 out-of-school Kenyan youths, drawn from the KLPS dataset, applied for vocational education tuition vouchers in the Kenyan study district. Half of these individuals were randomly selected to receive vouchers, with the non-winners serving as the control group. The project will also leverage the extensive (pre-intervention) individual-level data in KLPS to estimate heterogeneous returns to schooling by cognitive ability, socioeconomic status, and gender.(2) Are returns to vocational education higher in the private training sector? Among the voucher winners, a random half received vouchers that can be used only in government-supported training centers, while the other half received unrestricted vouchers that could be used in either public or private centers. The comparison of outcomes between the restricted (government only) and unrestricted voucher winners will illuminate any additional returns to access to private centers.(3) How are the "returns" to educational investments spatially distributed? The unusual KLPS panel dataset, which tracks respondents wherever they move within East Africa, will also provide new insights into how human capital investments affect out-migration decisions and remittances back to the sending area, shedding light on whether vocational education reduces or amplifies inter-regional economic disparities.(4) What factors affect the demand for vocational education? This project will produce examine experimental evidence on both the role of (i) price (through the tuition voucher experiment above) and (ii) information about average returns to vocational schooling, in determining demand. A baseline information experiment provided additional information (including basic statistics and a video) to a randomly chosen half of program applicants, highlighting (a) the higher earnings of vocational training recipients (in a cross-sectional analysis) and (b) the higher earnings of those who receive training in male-dominated trades (e.g., automobile mechanics) relative to female-dominated trades (e.g., seamstresses). The investigators will examine whether this information and encouragement affected the decision to enroll in a vocational education center and the type of course chosen. The preliminary results show large impacts of this information treatment on the enrollment decisions and course choices of Kenyan females, with a significant shift towards male-dominated courses.A key broader impact of the proposed project is the training of Economics Ph.D. students based in the U.S. in field data collection methods and applied econometrics. Another broader impact is the possibility of influencing public policy in less developed countries, and especially in Africa. Vocational education is seen as one of the most promising avenues for addressing the pressing problem of youth unemployment, and Kenya and many other African governments are currently expanding public programs in this sector. This project will provide rigorous evidence on the demand for and impacts of vocational education. The research team plans to continue actively disseminating results to development policymaking through this research, as they have with previous projects. The PIs have extensive data collection experience and policy contacts in Kenya dating back over a decade and work with a highly effective team of enumerators.

项目概要：青年失业是欠发达国家面临的最紧迫的社会和经济问题之一，但人们对如何最好地平稳从学校到工作的过渡或提高那些没有进入学术教育轨道的人的人力资本知之甚少。职业教育是解决这一问题的一个有希望的途径，特别是通过充满活力的私营职业部门。该项目将使用随机设计和创新的小组数据集来研究职业教育券计划对肯尼亚青年的影响。这是第一（据调查人员所知）对非洲职业教育干预措施的随机评估，并建立在肯尼亚生活小组调查（KLPS）数据集十年的详细信息基础上。拟议研究的智力价值在于其依赖于可信的研究设计和独特的数据集，以解决发展，劳动力和公共经济学领域的至少四个核心问题：（1）非洲教育的回报是什么？拟议的项目将评估职业教育对正规部门就业、劳动力市场收入、创业决策、移民（肯尼亚境内和国外）、汇款和生育率的影响。从KLPS数据集中抽取的大约2，160名肯尼亚失学青年申请了肯尼亚学习区的职业教育学费券。其中一半人被随机选择获得代金券，非获奖者作为对照组。该项目还将利用KLPS中广泛的（干预前）个人层面的数据，根据认知能力、社会经济地位和性别来估计学校教育的异质回报。(2)私立培训部门的职业教育回报率是否更高？在代金券获得者中，随机一半人获得的代金券只能在政府支持的培训中心使用，而另一半人获得的代金券不受限制，可以在公共或私人中心使用。限制性（仅限政府）和非限制性代金券获奖者之间的结果比较将说明进入私人中心的任何额外回报。(3)教育投资的“回报”在空间上如何分布？不寻常的KLPS面板数据集跟踪受访者在东非的移动，也将提供新的见解，了解人力资本投资如何影响向外移民的决定和汇款回原籍地，揭示职业教育是否减少或扩大区域间的经济差距。(4)影响职业教育需求的因素有哪些？该项目将提供关于（i）价格（通过上述学费券实验）和（ii）关于职业教育平均回报的信息在确定需求方面的作用的实验证据。基线信息实验向随机选择的一半计划申请人提供了额外的信息（包括基本统计数据和视频），突出了（a）职业培训接受者的较高收入（在横截面分析中）和（B）那些接受男性主导行业培训的人的较高收入（例如，汽车机械）相对于女性主导的行业（例如，女裁缝）。调查人员将检查这些信息和鼓励是否影响了进入职业教育中心的决定和选择的课程类型。初步结果显示，信息处理对肯尼亚女性的入学决策和课程选择产生了很大影响，并向男性主导的课程发生了重大转变。在美国的学生在现场数据收集方法和应用计量经济学。另一个更广泛的影响是有可能影响欠发达国家，特别是非洲国家的公共政策。职业教育被视为解决青年失业这一紧迫问题的最有希望的途径之一，肯尼亚和许多其他非洲国家政府目前正在扩大这一部门的公共项目。该项目将提供关于职业教育需求和影响的有力证据。研究小组计划继续通过这项研究积极传播成果，以制定发展政策，就像他们对以前的项目所做的那样。调查员在肯尼亚有着广泛的数据收集经验和政策联系，可以追溯到十多年前，并与一个高效的普查员团队合作。