Stay in the Game: A Randomized Controlled Trial of a Sports and Life Skills Program for Vulnerable Youth in Liberia

Lori Beaman, Sylvan Herskowitz, Niall Keleher and Jeremy Magruder

Economic Development and Cultural Change, 2021, vol. 70, issue 1, 129 - 158

Abstract: Over the past two decades, sports programs have proliferated as a mode of engaging youth in development projects. Thousands of organizations, millions of participants, and hundreds of millions of dollars are invested in sports-based development programs each year. The underlying belief that sports promote socioemotional skills, improve psychological well-being, and foster traits that boost labor force productivity has provided motivation to expand funding and offerings of sport-for-development programs. We partnered with an international nongovernmental organization to randomly assign 1,200 young adults to a sports and life skills development program. While we do not see evidence of improved psychosocial outcomes or resilience, we do find evidence that the program caused a 0.12 standard deviation increase in labor force participation. Secondary analysis suggests that the effects are strongest among those likely to be most disadvantaged in the labor market.

Date: 2021
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