Using Experimental Economics to Measure the Effects of a Natural Educational Experiment on Altruism

No 11725, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Economic research examining how educational intervention programs affect primary and secondary schooling focuses largely on test scores although the interventions can affect many other outcomes. This paper examines how an educational intervention, a voucher program, affected students' altruism. The voucher program used a lottery to allocate scholarships among low-income applicant families with children in K-8th grade. By exploiting the lottery to identify the voucher effects, and using experimental economic methods, we measure the effects of the intervention on children's altruism. We also measure the voucher program's effects on parents' altruism and several academic outcomes including test scores. We find that the educational intervention positively affects students' altruism towards charitable organizations but not towards their peers. We fail to find statistically significant effects of the vouchers on parents' altruism or test scores.

JEL-codes: C9 I2 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2005-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu, nep-evo, nep-exp, nep-soc and nep-ure
Note: ED CH
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Published as Bettinger, Eric and Robert Slonim. "Using Experimental Economics To Measure The Effects Of A Natural Educational Experiment On Altruism," Journal of Public Economics, 2006, v90(8-9,Sep), 1625-1648.

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Journal Article: Using experimental economics to measure the effects of a natural educational experiment on altruism (2006)
Working Paper: Using experimental economics to measure the effects of a natural educational experiment on altruism (2006)
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