Publications
Noise, Cognitive Function, and Worker Productivity
Forthcoming at the American Economic Journal: Applied Economics
Abstract: Cognitive science research suggests the noisy workplaces common in low and middle income countries can impair workers’ cognitive functions. However, whether this translates into lower earnings for workers depends on the importance of these functions for productivity and whether workers understand these effects. I use two randomized experiments in Nairobi, Kenya to answer these questions. First, I randomize exposure to engine noise during a textile training course at a government training facility. An increase of 7 dB reduces productivity by approximately 3%. In order to study what mechanism drives this effect, I then randomize engine noise during tests of cognitive function and an effort task. The same noise change impairs cognitive function but not effort task performance. Finally, in both experiments, I examine whether individuals appreciate the impact of noise on their performance by eliciting participants’ willingness to pay for quiet working conditions while randomly varying whether they are compensated based on their performance. Individuals’ willingness to pay does not depend on the wage structure; suggesting that they are not aware that quiet working conditions would increase their performance pay. Thus, workers may fail to mitigate earnings losses by sorting into quieter jobs where they are more productive.
Credit, Attention, and Externalities in the Adoption of Energy Efficient Technologies by Low-income Households
American Economic Review, October 2022, vol. 112 (10), pp. 3291-3330. (with Susanna B. Berkouwer)
Abstract: We study an energy efficient charcoal cookstove in an experiment with 1,000 households in Nairobi. We estimate a 39% reduction in charcoal spending, which matches engineering estimates, generating a 295% annual return. Despite fuel savings of $237 over the stove’s two-year lifespan—and $295 in emissions reductions—households are only willing to pay $12. Drawing attention to energy savings does not increase demand. However, a loan more than doubles WTP: credit constraints prevent adoption of privately optimal technologies. Energy efficient technologies could drive sustainable development by slowing greenhouse emissions while saving households money.
Changing Family Attitudes to Promote Female Employment
AEA Papers and Proceedings, May 2019, vol. 109, pp. 138-142. (with Seema Jayachandran)
Abstract: India’s female employment rate is one of the lowest in the world. One approach to expanding female employment is to make young women’s family members more supportive of them working. We report on the effects of two interventions aimed at increasing family members’ supportiveness in rural India. The first entails showing them video testimonials by working women and their family members. The second prompts a conversation between working women and their families about the benefits and challenges they face when a woman in the household works. We find no evidence that the interventions changed employment or attitudes.
Cognitive Science in the Field: A Preschool Intervention Durably Enhances Intuitive but not Formal Mathematics
Science, 7 July 2017, vol. 375 (6346), pp. 47-55. (with Moira R. Dillon, Harini Kannan, Elizabeth S. Spelke and Esther Duflo)
Abstract: Many poor children are underprepared for demanding primary school curricula. Research in cognitive science suggests that school achievement could be improved by preschool pedagogy in which numerate adults engage children’s spontaneous, nonsymbolic mathematical concepts. To test this suggestion, we designed and evaluated a game-based preschool curriculum intended to exercise children’s emerging skills in number and geometry. In a randomized field experiment with 1540 children (average age 4.9 years) in 214 Indian preschools, 4 months of math game play yielded marked and enduring improvement on the exercised intuitive abilities, relative to no-treatment and active control conditions. Math-trained children also showed immediate gains on symbolic mathematical skills but displayed no advantage in subsequent learning of the language and concepts of school mathematics.
Working Papers
Private actions in the presence of externalities: The health impacts of reducing air pollution peaks but not ambient exposure
Accepted, Journal of Development Economics Pre-Results Review (with Susanna Berkouwer)
Abstract: Extensive research has documented that elevated air pollution increases mortality and morbidity, with estimates reaching 8 million deaths per year. Many of the world’s one billion urban poor face both high ambient concentrations and even higher transient peaks. Should government interventions aimed at improving health prioritize reductions in ambient pollution—for example, regulating industrial emissions—or peak pollution? We conduct a field experiment studying the impacts of reducing a notorious source of peak air pollution exposure—biomass cooking—for three years in an urban environment with high ambient pollution. We collect personal, high-frequency particulate matter and carbon monoxide measurements and extensive quantitative and self-reported health measurements. Cooking increases peak PM2.5 exposure by 125 µg/m3 for the control group, but improved stove ownership reduces this by 52 µg/m3—a sizeable 42% reduction in peak cooking emissions. However, ambient pollution of 37.5 µg/m3 largely negates any impact on average air pollution exposure. The reduction in peak cooking emissions generates a 0.24 standard deviation reduction in short-term self-reported respiratory symptoms. However, we can rule out meaningful improvements in blood pressure, blood oxygen, and a wide array of self-reported diagnoses. Ambient air pollution dampens the health benefits from private technology adoption, and chronic health improvements will likely require government intervention addressing negative externalities through environmental regulation. Still, despite the importance of ambient pollution, the $40 stove generates $86 in annual energy savings and reduces CO2 emissions at $4.9 per ton when factoring in additionality rates, suggesting government subsidies would generate large societal benefits.
Attending Kindergarten Improves Cognitive but Not Socioemotional Development in India (with Seema Jayachandran)
Abstract: Pre-primary schooling is available but has low participation in many developing countries, which could exacerbate the socioeconomic gradient in readiness for primary school. We study the effects of expanding access to kindergarten on child development in Karnataka, India through a randomized evaluation. We partnered with a private kindergarten provider to offer two-year scholarships to children in low-income families. Children who attend our partner’s kindergarten due to the scholarship experience a 0.8 standard deviation gain in cognitive development. About 40% of the effect persists through the first year of primary school. We find no effect on socioemotional development. Some children induced to attend our partner’s kindergarten would have attended no kindergarten, while others would have attended a different kindergarten. We use machine learning techniques to predict each child’s counterfactual activity and then estimate separate treatment effects for different types of switchers. The short-run effect on cognition is driven by children who would not have otherwise attended kindergarten, but the persistent component of the effect does not vary by counterfactual.
Works in Progress
Demand for Urban Exploration: Evidence from Nairobi (with Gabriel Kreindler and Oluchi Mbonu)
Behavioral Responses to GST and Firm Pricing (with Avner Strulov-Shlain)
Understanding Financial Decision-making and the Euler Equation Puzzle (with Susanna Berkouwer)
Masculinity Norms and Women’s Labor Force Participation (with Christine Exley, Muriel Niederle and Heather Sarsons)