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Is patience malleable via educational intervention? Evidence from field experiments

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  • Kaiser, Tim
  • Menkhoff, Lukas
  • Oberrauch, Luis

Abstract

We study the malleability of patience via educational interventions by aggregating evidence from earlier experiments in a meta-analysis and by conducting a field experiment. We find that the average effect of interventions on patience is positive but uncertain. The age of students explains a large share of between-study heterogeneity in treatment effects. Thus, we conduct a field experiment covering both youths and adults in Uganda. We find heterogenous effects by age: adults’ patience measured in incentivized tasks is unaffected by the intervention after 15 months follow-up, but we observe large effects on patience and estimated discount factors for youth.

Suggested Citation

  • Kaiser, Tim & Menkhoff, Lukas & Oberrauch, Luis, 2022. "Is patience malleable via educational intervention? Evidence from field experiments," EconStor Preprints 266080, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:esprep:266080
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. McKenzie, David & Mohpal, Aakash & Yang, Dean, 2022. "Aspirations and financial decisions: Experimental evidence from the Philippines," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    2. David Laibson, 1997. "Golden Eggs and Hyperbolic Discounting," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(2), pages 443-478.
    3. Sule Alan & Seda Ertac, 2018. "Fostering Patience in the Classroom: Results from Randomized Educational Intervention," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 126(5), pages 1865-1911.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Patience; time-preferences; malleability; field experiment; educational intervention;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments
    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • D15 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Intertemporal Household Choice; Life Cycle Models and Saving

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