Local Learning Effects and the Next Prius

There are more and more empirical papers coming out investigating whether neighbors learn from each other. Whether we are talking about Pineapples or 401K retirement plans or solar panels, economists are trying to randomize the initial conditions (i.e the assignment of the first person in the chain) and then studying the diffusion of information and choices. This randomization obviates concerns over selection bias and unobserved heterogeneity (i.e that the early adopters signal a special unobserved error term). This literature should interest environmental economists. Keynes said that we are all dead in the long run but the short run may not be that long if diffusion of info occurs fast. The diffusion of green products would help a lot to decarbonize our economy. While we need incentives (i.e carbon pricing), another necessary condition is information about the true green benefits of each product. This local learning literature makes me more optimistic about this path.



http://papers.nber.org/papers/w14853

Menstruation and Education in Nepal

Emily Oster, Rebecca Thornton

NBER Working Paper No. 14853
Issued in April 2009
NBER Program(s): HE LS


---- Abstract -----

This paper presents the results from a randomized evaluation that distributed menstrual cups (menstrual sanitary products) to adolescent girls in rural Nepal. Girls in the study were randomly allocated a menstrual cup for use during their monthly period and were followed for fifteen months to measure the effects of having modern sanitary products on schooling. While girls were 3 percentage points less likely to attend school on days of their period, we find no significant effect of being allocated a menstrual cup on school attendance. There were also no effects on test scores, self-reported measures of self-esteem or gynecological health. These results suggest that policy claims that barriers to girls' schooling and activities during menstrual periods are due to lack of modern sanitary protection may not be warranted. On the other hand, sanitary products are quickly and widely adopted by girls and are convenient in other ways, unrelated to short-term schooling gains.