Field Experiment In Mexico Research Articles

Parent Training and Child Development at Low Cost? Evidence From a Randomized Field Experiment in Mexico

ABSTRACT Can at-scale, government-implemented parent training programs improve parenting practices and child development outcomes? This article presents evidence on the effects of a low-cost, group-based early childhood education program that provided parent training and direct child stimulation in rural communities, evaluated in six Mexican states. Despite limited take-up, the program had positive impacts on observed parent behaviors in its first year. An index of observed parenting behaviors increased by 0.20 standard deviations, with larger effects (0.32 standard deviations) for parents of the youngest children (ages 0–35 months). An index of impacts on child development showed no statistically significantly effects, but certain aspects of child development showed suggestive evidence of positive impacts in the first year. For both parenting practices and child development, effect sizes were smaller and not statistically significant in the second year. The fade-out of effects is consistent with existing literature on parenting programs. Impacts of the program on child development were not significantly different for girls versus boys or for younger versus older children. These results suggest that parent training can be implemented at low cost, although design changes to improve implementation and take-up would likely be needed to generate sustained impacts on parenting practices.

Policy feedback via economic behavior: A model and experimental analysis of consumption behavior

AbstractThis article examines policy feedback via economic behavior in the mass public, with a focus on consumption behavior. Do public policies affect the consumption behavior of mass publics and subsequent policymaking processes and outcomes? If so, how? I introduce a policy feedback model of consumption behavior in the mass public. Within this model, I advance a theoretical argument on the consequences of targeted cash assistance policies (TCAPs) for consumer spending behavior and government provision of basic utilities in developing countries. Using a randomized field experiment in Mexico and pre–post analysis, I find that TCAPs boost consumer spending on private access to basic utilities in the short term and reduce government provision of basic utilities in the medium term. The study pushes policy feedback theorists to think beyond the arena of mass politics, and the findings have important implications for social policy and human development in developing countries.

Priors Rule: When Do Malfeasance Revelations Help Or Hurt Incumbent Parties?

Abstract Effective policy-making requires that voters avoid electing malfeasant politicians. However, informing voters of incumbent malfeasance in corrupt contexts may not reduce incumbent support. As our simple learning model shows, electoral sanctioning is limited where voters already believed incumbents to be malfeasant, while information’s effect on turnout is non-monotonic in the magnitude of reported malfeasance. We conducted a field experiment in Mexico that informed voters about malfeasant mayoral spending before municipal elections, to test whether these Bayesian predictions apply in a developing context where many voters are poorly informed. Consistent with voter learning, the intervention increased incumbent vote share where voters possessed unfavorable prior beliefs and when audit reports caused voters to favorably update their posterior beliefs about the incumbent’s malfeasance. Furthermore, we find that low and, especially, high malfeasance revelations increased turnout, while less surprising information reduced turnout. These results suggest that improved governance requires greater transparency and citizen expectations.

Promoting Energy Efficiency in Emerging Economies Through Consumer Education: Results From a Field Experiment in Mexico

We report on the results of a field experiment in Puebla, Mexico that informed randomly-selected households facing a nonlinear price schedule about how different electricity-consuming actions might change their electricity bills. Households that received this 20-minute, in-person intervention reduced their electricity use, with much of this reduction driven by those that paid the highest marginal price for electricity. The estimated impacts were durable with no observed rebound for at least a year. Households with less educational attainment reduced use the most, consistent with the conclusion that the intervention imparted new knowledge to consumers that led to this observed behavior change. The high rate at which customers accepted the intervention, the resulting consumption decrease, and low implementation costs make this intervention cost-effective relative to several previous energy conservation campaigns in Mexico.

Can Making Family Salient Increase Financial Savings? Quantifying Heterogeneous Treatment Effects in Voluntary Retirement Contributions Using a Field Experiment in Mexico

Many people fail to save for retirement, opting to spend money and consume in the present. Previous work has largely focused on highlighting the long-term benefits that savings can have for the individual. Instead, we test a novel intervention that that frames retirement savings as a way to ‘secure your family’s financial future.’ Using a large-scale field experiment (N=97,149), we find that sending SMS reminders with a family security framing improves contribution rates relative to those in the control group who do not receive an SMS message and other treatment groups who receive SMS reminders based on previously successful behavioral interventions (e.g., basic alerts, pennies-a-day, individual goals, fresh start). Promisingly, contribution rates continue to be higher for those who received the family security SMS even two months following the experiment, despite no other SMS reminders being sent. We combine our analyses with two machine-learning approaches and identify significant heterogeneity in the effectiveness of our treatment. While the family security SMS improves contribution rates by 89% for those over the age of 28, it significantly backfires for younger individuals decreasing contributions by 53%. If the goal is to optimally increase retirement contributions, then accounting for heterogeneity can have clear policy and firm implications. Sending the family security intervention to the entire customer base would decrease the number of contributors, total contribution amounts, and overall firm profits, relative to a segmented approach that sends the intervention only to customers above the age of 28.

Long-Run Price Elasticities of Demand for Credit: Evidence from a Countrywide Field Experiment in Mexico

Abstract We use randomized interest rates, offered across eighty geographically distinct regions for twenty-nine months by Mexico’s largest microlender, to sketch the adjustment from a price change to a new equilibrium. Demand is elastic, and more so over the longer run; e.g. the dollars-borrowed elasticity increases from $-$1.1 in Year one to $-$2.9 in Year three. Credit bureau data do not show evidence of crowd-out, although this and other null results are imprecisely estimated. The lender’s profits increase, albeit noisily, starting in Year two. But competitors do not respond by reducing rates. These findings, together with other results, suggest that informational frictions are important, and that cutting rates furthered Compartamos Banco’s “double bottom line” of improving social welfare subject to a profitability constraint.

Parasitic Wasps Can Reduce Mortality of Teosinte Plants Infested With Fall Armyworm: Support for a Defensive Function of Herbivore-Induced Plant Volatiles

Many parasitic wasps use volatiles emitted by plants under herbivore attack to find their hosts. It has therefore been proposed that these inducible plant volatiles serve an indirect defense function by recruiting parasitoids and other natural enemies. This suggested function remains controversial because there is little evidence that, in terms of fitness, plants benefit from the actions of natural enemies, particularly parasitoids, which do not immediately kill their hosts. We aimed to address this controversy in a semi-natural field experiment in Mexico, where we used large screen tents to evaluate how parasitoids can affect plant performance. The tritrophic study system comprised teosinte (Zea spp.), the ancestor of maize, Spodoptera frugiperda Smith (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) and Campoletis sonorensis Cameron (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae), which have a long evolutionary history together. In tents without parasitoids, S. frugiperda larvae inflicted severe damage to the plants, whereas in the presence of parasitoid wasps, leaf damage was reduced by as much as 80%. Parasitoids also mitigated herbivore-mediated mortality among young teosinte plants. Although these findings will not resolve the long-standing debate on the adaptive function of herbivore-induced plant volatiles, they do present strong support for the hypothesis that plants can benefit from the presence of parasitoid natural enemies of their herbivores.

Does Corruption Information Inspire the Fight or Quash the Hope? A Field Experiment in Mexico on Voter Turnout, Choice, and Party Identification

Retrospective voting models assume that offering more information to voters about their incumbents’ performance strengthens electoral accountability. However, it is unclear whether incumbent corruption information translates into higher political participation and increased support for challengers. We provide experimental evidence that such information not only decreases incumbent party support in local elections in Mexico, but also decreases voter turnout and support for the challenger party, as well as erodes partisan attachments. While information clearly is necessary to improve accountability, corruption information is not sufficient because voters may respond to it by withdrawing from the political process. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of our findings for studies of voting behavior.

Long-Run Price Elasticities of Demand for Credit: Evidence from a Countrywide Field Experiment in Mexico

The long-run price elasticity of demand for credit is a key parameter for intertemporal modeling, policy levers, and lending practice. We use randomized interest rates, offered across 80 regions by Mexico’s largest microlender, to identify a 29-month dollars-borrowed elasticity of -1.9. This elasticity increases from -1.1 in year one to -2.9 in year three. The number of borrowers is also elastic. Credit bureau data does not show evidence of crowd-out. Competitors do not respond by reducing rates, perhaps because Compartamos’ profits are unchanged. The results are consistent with multiple equilibria in loan pricing.

Information Framing and Retirement Management Decisions: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Mexico

I analyze whether information framing related to the performance of Pension Funds Administrators affects the retirement management decisions of Mexican workers. I conduct a survey to collect information on recommendations for Fund Administrator made by Mexican workers when faced with randomly framed scenarios. The scenarios feature framing based on choice avoidance and framing exploiting aversion. I find evidence that reducing the number of possible choices increases the probability that individuals choose a Fund Administrator with a higher net return or with lower fees. A loss aversion framing increases the probability that individuals choose a Fund Administrator with a higher net return. Finally, I find evidence that higher levels of financial literacy decrease the effects of framing on Fund Administrator choice.

Increased availability of extrafloral nectar reduces herbivory in Lima bean plants (Phaseolus lunatus, Fabaceae)

Summary Lima bean (Phaseolus lunatus) features two inducible indirect defences to protect itself against herbivores. Besides the emission of plant volatiles, extrafloral nectar is secreted to attract carnivorous arthropods to herbivore-damaged plants. The activation of both putative defences efficiently protects Lima beans from leaf damage. In a field experiment in Mexico, we studied whether extrafloral nectar alone can benefit the Lima bean under natural conditions. An artificial blend mimicking natural nectar both qualitatively and quantitatively was repeatedly applied to Lima bean tendrils. Ants, wasps and flies were significantly more abundant on treated tendrils than on untreated controls already after 1 week (i.e. after two treatment applications). Sticky traps were used to assess the functional groups of flying insects attracted to the Lima beans. After 24 h, 71% of all trapped flies and 98% of all wasps belonged to families comprising either parasitoid or predatory species. This observation suggests that also some of the flying visitors have played a role as putative defenders of Lima beans. Most of the trapped flies belonged to the families Dolichopodidae and Phoridae (each ca. one third of all individuals). Two thirds of the wasps belonged to Chalcidoidea (68%). All ant species that had been collected manually belonged to generalist genera with Camponotus novogranadensis and Cephalotes minutus being most regularly encountered on study tendrils. An additional experiment, where both ‘nectar’ and ‘control’ tendrils were treated with artificial nectar, revealed that ants responded with an increased abundance on tendrils that had experienced the ‘nectar’ treatment before. After 25 days, the treated tendrils showed a significantly reduced herbivory as compared to controls. The mere presence of increased amounts of extrafloral nectar thus can benefit the Lima bean under natural conditions.