Thread by @leightjessica

New week, new twitter project! In recent years more and more randomized trials have analyzed interventions targeted at non-cognitive skills (soft skills, life skills, socio-emotional skills) broadly defined in developing countries. 1/n

This is a major interest of mine – I’ve decided to start a running thread quickly summarizing and linking to papers of interest. Please add links to other papers, including your own – I’ll add them. 2/n

Two today. First, Acevedo, Cruces, @paul_gertler, and Martinez analyzed a soft skills and vocational skills training program in the DR. Targeted skills include grit (perseverance, ambition) and social competencies (leadership, conflict resolution, social skills, empathy) 3/n

Effects evaluated at 12 months and 3.5 years, and are highly heterogeneous by gender. Women show short-term employment gains, long-term skill gains (optimism, self-esteem) – primarily for soft skills and vocational training – but no long-term employment gains. 4/n

Men developed higher labor market expectations; they didn’t achieve higher labor market outcomes, but were increasingly discouraged. 5/n
sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

Second, a recent working paper by @achadhvaryu, Kala and @AnantNyshadham analyzes an on-the-job soft skills training provided to garment factory workers in urban India. They show major increases in extraversion, as well as grit, openness, autonomy and motivation. 6/n

Even more important, this translates into big increases in researcher measured productivity (more than 250%) at eight months, though only modest increases in wages. 7/n
Open access: namratakala.files.wordpress.com/2019/12/pace_d…
NBER WP: nber.org/papers/w24313

More soon! 8/n May be of interest: @ElaineLiuEcon @danilaserra_eco @jhaushofer @kkosec @EmmaRiley19 @p_mukherj @Prof_Nishith_P @vicorozc @Adan_murillo @VictoriaBaranov #Econtwitter

One particular branch of the non-cognitive literature focuses on interventions targeted at raising aspirations, for adults or children. Today, highlighting papers focusing on adults. 9/n

Evidence from Ethiopia by Bernard, Dercon, @kateorkin and Taffesse analyzed a video intervention rolled out in rural Ethiopia that provided inspirational role models (other rural households) speaking about their goals and achievements. 10/n

The intervention generates a significant increase in parents’ aspirations for children's education and investment in children’s education (enrollment, expenditure, time spent in school). 11/n
aeaweb.org/articles?id=10…
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cf…

Recent evaluations in Kenya (led by @kateorkin) and Ethiopia (by colleagues from @IFPRI, including me) are evaluating very similar interventions in new contexts. More evidence soon! 12/n

In Uganda, a video-based intervention implemented in a group setting targeted HIV+ women, presenting the stories of HIV+ role models in conjunction with a discussion; findings from a recent RCT suggests increases in ambition, empowerment, own-business activity, and income. 13/n

(In another arm, a simple nutritional education intervention had effects on nutrition, health, and labor supply.) Implemented by a large team led by Patrick Lubega at @MakerereU 14/n
sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

By contrast, a recent evaluation in urban Kenya by @baranov, @Haushofer and Jang analyze several light-touch positive psychology interventions targeting poor adults including an intervention targeting aspirations, and find null effects. TBC. . .15/n
journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.108…

Today: what about aspirations interventions targeting youth? Also a large space and growing; hard to define the boundaries of this literature at times, but here are some papers of interest. 16/n

Glewwe and @BruceWydick analyze a child sponsorship program and find large positive effects on employment and educational outcomes in adulthood; they argue this partly reflects higher aspirations. 17/n

Important to note this is an intensive program over many years that also includes substantial material transfers. 18/n
journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.10…

(Two papers found significant positive effects of providing information about returns to education on perceived returns and thus educational attainment in Madagascar and Dominican Republic. Aspirations are not measured, but could be one relevant channel.) 19/n

Jensen, Dominican Republic: academic.oup.com/qje/article-ab…
Nguyen, Madagascar: povertyactionlab.org/sites/default/… 20/n

Most recently: @KipkechElijah, @EconCath, @Danilaserra and Sulaiman have a new paper analyzing an intervention targeting aspirations in Somalia (hugely understudied). Male and female college graduates visited classrooms in primary schools and described their experiences. 21/n

There are no effects on aspirations, but the female role models had a significant positive effect on attitudes toward gender equity (boys + girls). Suggestive evidence the effect persists for two years for sixth grade students. More soon! 22/n
pvsessions.tamu.edu/RePEc/SerraSom…

More non-cog papers! Fascinating new paper by @sayantanghosal, @smarajit_jana, @sancharirm, Mani and Mitra in @restatjournal analyzing an intervention delivered to sex workers (rarely studied population) in Kolkata that sought to mitigate stigma and enhance self-image. 23/n

The analysis finds evidence of significant improvement in respondents’ self-image, as well as increases in savings and health behaviors. 24/n
direct.mit.edu/rest/article/d…

Another brand-new working paper by Mejia-Mantilla and @j_sonam_walsh invited unemployed youth in Addis to a workshop on affirmation and goal-setting. They find increases in job search activity and employment, but only for men. 25/n

(Women may face other constraints, e.g. gender norms?) Effects are especially large especially for men with low psychological agency at baseline.
The working paper may not be public, but policy note here. More papers soon! 26/n
documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/786…

More non-cog papers! Here is an area of research, growth mindset interventions, that has shown both significant and null effects (important to report, even though they are rarely well-received by partners, referees or editors). 27/n

A very large-scale evaluation conducted in Zanzibar by @AsadIslamBD, Kwon, @eemamasood, @Prof_Nishith_P, @shwetlena and Saraswat found that a goal-setting exercise for secondary school students increases time use, study effort and self-discipline; but not test scores. 28/n

In an interesting link to the aspirations literature, a majority of students set very unrealistic goals; some suggestive evidence that too high aspirations / too high goals can in fact have negative effects. 29/n
ftp.iza.org/dp13188.pdf

In Peru, a brief (90-minute) growth-mindset intervention for students starting secondary school was evaluated by Outes-León, @alan_sanchezj and @rvakis. 30/n

In more positive news, they show evidence of an improvement in math test scores and educational expectations, with a large and sustained impact in test scores among students outside Lima. 31/n
documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/212…

But in Argentina, a broadly similar intervention in public secondary schools was evaluated by @aganimian
and there is little evidence of effects on performance, achievement, or post-secondary plans. More next week! 32/n
journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.310…

It's Monday, more non-cog papers! Recent papers have analyzed exciting interventions targeting non-cog skills among girls or women. @profnavaashraf, @BauNatalie, @femonomics and McGinn analyze a negotiating intervention targeting eighth grade girls in Zambia. 33/n

There are significant and persistent effects (3 years) on educational outcomes. Simpler treatments providing information about returns to education and providing a safe space with a female mentor did not have the same effects. 34/n

Positive effects are larger for high-ability girls, and evidence about channels suggests that negotiation is resolving incomplete contracting challenges within the household. 35/n
academic.oup.com/qje/article-ab…

@MaddieMcKelway analyzes a psychosocial intervention (group facilitated meetings) targeted at increasing the generalized self-efficacy of adult women in India and thus shaping their engagement in the labor market. 36/n

Evidence suggests persistent increases in efficacy, but only short-term shifts in labor market participation that seem to be crowded out, in the medium-term, by women’s substantial responsibilities for domestic work. 37/n
madelinemckelway.com/research

Finally, a recent paper by me, Feigenberg and @ericedmonds analyzed a life skills intervention implemented by @RoomtoRead designed to enhance a broad range of life skills (aspirations, socioemotional support, agency) and reduce school dropout for girls in India. 38/n

We find evidence of a significant reduction in school dropout (25%, through grade 9) and enhanced life skills across a range of domains. @vox_dev
sites.dartmouth.edu/eedmonds/gep/
voxdev.org/topic/labour-m…
More soon! 39/n

More non-cog papers! Both today reporting null results.
Groh, @NandiniPothos, @dmckenzie001, and Vishwanath analyze a soft skills training program for women in Jordan. 40/n

They find that a lengthy program offered by a well-regarded provider had no significant effects on employment in multiple rounds.
izajold.springeropen.com/articles/10.11… 41/n

Another null finding from one of my recent papers: joint with @spbhanot, Mvuhiyehe, Yedgenov and Crost we evaluated a life skills training program in conjunction with cash grants for community service in Kazakhstan. 42/n

No effects on life skills (overlapping with non-cognitive skills), social capital, or employment; effects on employment may even be weakly negative.
jessicaleight.com/research.html
Only a few papers left, but at least one more thread soon! 43/n

I think today is my last thread with new papers on interventions targeting non-cognitive skills! A major paper by @Blattman, @julianjamison and @masherid analyzed the effects of a cognitive behavioral therapy program and cash on crime and violence in Liberia. 44/n

They analyze a range of crime and economic outcomes, but also non-cognitive skills including self-regulation and patience. Results suggest that either cash or therapy reduce crime and violence in the short-run, but the combination of both has effects for at least a year. 45/n

The combined intervention also has significant and large effects on an index of non-cognitive skills and preferences (around .25 sd after a year). 46/n
aeaweb.org/articles?id=10…

One interesting paper that is very different in Chile by Gallego, Larroulet and Repetto analyzes a randomized evaluation of free dental care, including cosmetic work; and finds large positive increases in self-esteem for women, as well as shift in labor market outcomes. 47/n

Interesting reminder that one dimension of non-cog (self-esteem) can be shaped by many interventions other than training, therapy, empowerment, etc. 48/n povertyactionlab.org/sites/default/…

Sorry, tagging mistake above! Liberia work by @cblatts, @julianjamison and @masherid

Wrap-up thread on evaluations of interventions targeting non-cog skills! There are between 15 and 20 relevant papers, depending on the exact inclusion criterion. Majority are recent (last 5 years) suggesting that is a fast-growing and young literature. #Econtwitter 49/n

A few high-level thoughts: in general, interventions targeting non-cognitive skills seem to have more positive effects for adolescents and their educational outcomes, than for adults and their labor market outcomes. 50/n

Consistent with the observation in the earlier review piece by @cblatts and Ralston that training programs are generally ineffective (though they do have a caveat that soft skills training seems somewhat more promising). 51/n

Another promising area (though small N of studies) is interventions targeting adults that have a clear source of stigma (e.g., sex workers as in @sayantanghosal, @smarajit_jana, @sancharirm, Mani and Mitra; HIV+ adults as in Lubega et al), rather than general population. 52/n

Obviously measurement is a huge challenge here (also, an interesting area of innovation). If you compare two papers in this set, it’s not uncommon for there to be virtually zero overlap in the non-cog measures employed. 53/n

There is also a high-level question about how stable, internally consistent, etc. many of these indices are, as shown in the recent paper by Macours et al. New and different indices may be needed. 54/n
jhr.uwpress.org/content/early/…
An exciting area of work and lots more to do!