This month, the Behavioral Economics in Reproductive Health Initiative (BERI) convened a research workshop with practitioners from PSI, BRAC, FHI360, and Pathfinder. Participants integrated insights from psychology and economics into ongoing family planning programs, designing new approaches to address health care provider bias, adolescent risk perception, and problems with intra-household bargaining. 

CEGA will hold its 5th annual Evidence to Action Symposium at the Berkeley Art Museum on Thursday, May 1st. The half-day event, co-sponsored by J-PAL, will feature emerging evidence on the role of markets in the adoption of agricultural technologies by African and South Asian farmers. The agenda includes Andrew Youn, founder of One Acre Fund, and Umesh Singh of the International Rice Research Institute. This event is free and open to the public; registration is required. 

 

The Tyranny of Experts: William Easterly 

 

On April 11th, William Easterly will visit Berkeley to discuss his new book, The Tyranny of Experts: Economists, Dictators, and the Forgotten Rights of the Poor. Easterly is Professor of Economics at New York University, Co-Director of the NYU Development Research Institute, and author of the bestselling book, The White Man's Burden. The event is hosted by CEGA and the Blum Center. 

Conditional cash transfers (CCTs) are a common tool for increasing primary school attendance among low-income households, but how does the conditionality actually affect schooling decisions? CEGA affiliate Leonardo Bursztyn and co-author Lucas C. Coffman have conducted a four-arm randomized evaluation of families participating in Brazil's Bolsa Escola, to explore the extent to which parent-child conflict over the value of education affects decision-making. Households were offered either conditional or unconditional cash transfers, along with options for monitoring children's school attendance. Parents were willing to forego larger cash payments to keep the conditionality on the transfers, but were no longer willing to forego payments for the conditionality when also offered detailed information about their children's classroom attendance. The findings suggest that the monitoring provided by CCTs is valued by parents, and highlight a need for improved methods, such as text messaging, to reduce information gaps between children and their parents. See the project summary and academic publication for more details.