Working Paper: NBER ID: w16449
Authors: Pamela Jakiela; Edward Miguel; Vera L. Te Velde
Abstract: We combine data from a field experiment and a laboratory experiment to measure the causal impact of human capital on respect for earned property rights, a component of social preferences with important implications for economic growth and development. We find that higher academic achievement reduces the willingness of young Kenyan women to appropriate others' labor income, and shifts players toward a 50-50 split norm in the dictator game. This study demonstrates that education may have long-run impacts on social preferences, norms and institutions beyond the human capital directly produced. It also shows that randomized field experiments can be successfully combined with laboratory experiment data to measure causal impacts on individual values, norms, and preferences which cannot be readily captured in survey data.
Keywords: human capital; social preferences; property rights; field experiment; laboratory experiment
JEL Codes: C91; I21; O17
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Higher academic achievement (KCPE scores) (I24) | Allocation of resources to partners in dictator game (C72) |
| Higher academic achievement (KCPE scores) (I24) | Willingness to appropriate others' labor income (E25) |
| Random assignment to GSP treatment schools (C90) | Higher academic achievement (KCPE scores) (I24) |
| Higher academic achievement (KCPE scores) (I24) | Shift towards 50/50 split norm in resource allocation (D30) |