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

早育在低收入女大学生中很常见，导致这些学生的辍学率很高，尽管计划生育服务是可用的。该奖项资助的研究使用实地实验和现代经济理论来测试两种低成本干预措施是否能有效降低这些学生因意外怀孕而导致的辍学率。第一个实验测试的是，将经济激励与定向信息运动结合起来，是否能改变人们对晚育与晚年不孕之间的联系的看法。第二个实验检验向女学生提供无条件现金转移是否会减少这些学生的风险行为，从而提高毕业率。除了对经济科学的贡献外，这项研究的结果将为政策制定者提供信息，以最好地确保进入大学的高素质女性能够毕业并加入劳动力大军。这项研究的结果将有助于提高女性劳动力的素质，提高劳动生产率，经济增长和总体生活水平。该奖项资助的研究将原始数据收集与行政数据与随机对照试验相结合，研究两种干预措施在降低低收入女大学生辍学率方面的有效性。第一个实验测量干预措施的影响，目标是普遍认为使用避孕措施会导致以后的生活不孕症；这种治疗方法将现金转移与有针对性的信息传递相结合，并将这种治疗方法与旨在让妇女到计划生育诊所就诊的非强制性有条件现金转移方案进行比较。这种方法将允许pi建立因果关系；这是以前的研究没有做过的。第二项随机对照试验将衡量UCT对女学生的影响，看看它是否减少了这些学生作为经济困难应对机制的风险行为。本研究结果除了对发展经济学文献有贡献外，也将为提高女生毕业率的政策提供参考。其结果将有助于改善人力资本的形成，提高生产率，促进经济增长，并改善所有人的生活水平。研究结果还可以减少收入不平等。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，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。

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.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.