Fostering patience in the classroom: Results from randomized educational intervention

We evaluate the impact of a randomized educational intervention on children’s intertemporal choices. The intervention aims to improve the ability to imagine future selves and encourages forward-looking behavior using a structured curriculum delivered by children’s own trained teachers. We find that...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of political economy 2018-10, Vol.126 (5), p.1865-1911
Main Authors: Alan, Sule, Ertac, Seda
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Allgemein bildende Schule
Behavior modification
Children & youth
Classrooms
Curricula
Decision making
Economic theory
Educational programs
Elicitation
Entscheidung
Experiment
Intervention
Kind
Patience
Political economy
Teachers
Türkei
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Summary:We evaluate the impact of a randomized educational intervention on children’s intertemporal choices. The intervention aims to improve the ability to imagine future selves and encourages forward-looking behavior using a structured curriculum delivered by children’s own trained teachers. We find that treated students make more patient intertemporal decisions in incentivized experimental tasks. The results persist almost 3 years after the intervention, replicate well in a different sample, and are robust across different experimental elicitation methods. The effects also extend beyond experimental outcomes: we find that treated students are significantly less likely to receive a low “behavior grade.”
ISSN:0047-2697
1537-534X
0022-3808
1537-534X
DOI:10.1086/699007