When student incentives do not work: Evidence from a field experiment in Malawi

James Berry, Hyuncheol Bryant Kim () and Hyuk Harry Son

Journal of Development Economics, 2022, vol. 158, issue C

Abstract: We study how the structure of tournament incentive schemes in education can influence the level and distribution of student outcomes. Through a field experiment among upper-primary students in Malawi, we evaluate two scholarship programs: a Population-based scholarship that rewarded overall top performers on an exam and a Bin-based scholarship that rewarded the top performers within smaller groups of students with similar baseline scores. We find that the Population-based scholarship decreased test scores and motivation to study, especially for those least likely to win. By contrast, we find no evidence for test score impacts among those in the Bin-based scholarship program.

Keywords: student incentives; Education policy; Field experiments (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I21 O15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:deveco:v:158:y:2022:i:c:s0304387822000566

DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2022.102893

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