Good Things Come to Those Who (Are Taught How to) Wait: Results from a Randomized Educational Intervention on Time Preference

Sule Alan and Seda Ertac ()
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Seda Ertac: Koc University

No 2015-003, Working Papers from Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group

Abstract: We report results from the impact evaluation of a randomized educational intervention targeted at elementary school children. The program uses case studies, stories and classroom activities to improve the ability to imagine future selves, and emphasizes forward-looking behavior. We find that treated students make more patient intertemporal choices in incentivized experimental tasks. The effect is stronger for students who are identified as present-biased in the baseline. Furthermore, using official administrative records, we find that treated children are significantly less likely to receive a low "behavioral grade". These results are persistent one year after the intervention, replicate well in a different sample, and are robust across different experimental elicitation methods.

Keywords: intertemporal choice; randomized field experiments; non-cognitive skills (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C93 D91 I28 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe, nep-edu, nep-exp, nep-mfd and nep-neu
Note: IP
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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http://humcap.uchicago.edu/RePEc/hka/wpaper/alan_e ... ime_intervention.pdf First version, September, 2014 (application/pdf)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hka:wpaper:2015-003

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