Experiments on the Role of State Actors in Eliciting Pro-Developmental Behavioral Change

政府的任务往往是为公民提供重要的集体和个人福利，但在许多关键政策领域，公民必须采取行动，以实现这些福利。 例如，政府和非政府组织早就明白，在服务不足的社区扩大医疗保健和教育的机会需要较贫困的公民利用公共项目。 疫情爆发后，各州如何引导个人行为改变的问题对美国及其他地区的政策制定者和从业者具有紧迫的意义。 通过对国家行为者的信息如何影响参与政府卫生和教育福利的实验性研究，该项目将直接为实施依赖公民促进发展行动的举措提供信息。该项目探讨了公民与特定国家行为者的关系和对他们的看法如何塑造这些行为者在激励促进发展行为方面的成功。 它假定，这种成功将根据以下因素而有所不同：（1）国家行为者是在州一级还是在地方一级运作;（2）他们是民选官员还是任命的行政人员;（3）他们是妇女还是男子。 此外，该项目认为，与特定国家行为者有共同政治偏好和人口特征的公民更有可能相信他们对行为改变的呼吁。 为了验证这些论点，该项目实施了两项相关的随机对照试验（RCT），重点是两个政策领域-健康和教育。健康部分探讨了低收入公民选择参加健康保险的情况，而教育部分则考察了父母让女孩入学的意愿。随机对照试验包括两波调查实验，随机选择了大约2,000名低收入公民。 在第一波中，鼓励教育和卫生领域促进发展行为的信息--并随机分配为来自不同类型的国家行为者--将亲自传达。 然后，同样的信息将在两个月内发送到受访者的移动的设备上，之后第二波将衡量受访者是否确实参与了建议的促进发展的行动。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Governments are often tasked with providing important collective and individual benefits to citizens, but, in many key policy areas, citizens must take action in order for these benefits to be realized. For example, governments and NGOs have long understood that expanding access to healthcare and education in underserved communities requires poorer citizens to avail themselves of public programs. In the wake of the pandemic, the question of how states can elicit individual behavioral change has taken on pressing significance for policy-makers and practitioners in the United States and beyond. Through an experimental examination of how messages from state actors shape participation in government health and education benefits, this project will directly inform efforts to implement initiatives which rely on pro-developmental actions from citizens. The project explores how citizen relationships with and perceptions of particular state actors shape the success of these actors in motivating pro-developmental behaviors. It posits that this success will vary according to (1) whether state actors operate at the state or local level, (2) whether they are elected officials or appointed administrators, and (3) whether they are women or men. In addition, the project contends that citizens who share political preferences and demographic traits with particular state actors will be more likely to trust their calls for behavioral change. To test these arguments, the project implements two related Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs), focusing on two policy areas – health and education. The health portion explores the choice by lower-income citizens to sign up for health insurance, while the education portion looks at parent willingness to enroll girls in school. The RCTs comprise two waves of survey experiments delivered to a randomized selection of approximately 2,000 lower-income citizens. In the first wave, messages encouraging pro-developmental behavior in education and health – and randomized as coming from different types of state actors -- will be delivered in-person. The same messages will then be delivered over two months to respondent mobile devices, after which the second wave will measure whether respondents have indeed engaged in the recommended pro-developmental action. The findings will allow an assessment of whether, and under what conditions, state actors can influence citizens to adopt pro-developmental behaviors.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.