American Economic Review
ISSN 0002-8282 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7981 (Online)
Empowering Adolescents to Transform Schools: Lessons from a Behavioral Targeting
American Economic Review
vol. 115,
no. 2, February 2025
(pp. 365–407)
Abstract
We test the effectiveness of a behavioral program grounded in the idea that status granting and self-persuasion might yield a robust behavioral change in disadvantaged adolescents. We enlist socially connected senior middle school students with high emotional intelligence as "student-teachers" and entrust them with delivering a curriculum to their junior peers. The program empowers student-teachers, leading them to improve their social environment. It reduces disciplinary incidents and antisocial behavior among student-teachers and their friendship networks. The intervention significantly enhances the likelihood of admission to selective high schools for student-teachers, offering a cost-effective way to help disadvantaged adolescents escape neighborhood disadvantages.Citation
Alan, Sule, and Elif Kubilay. 2025. "Empowering Adolescents to Transform Schools: Lessons from a Behavioral Targeting." American Economic Review 115 (2): 365–407. DOI: 10.1257/aer.20240374Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- H52 National Government Expenditures and Education
- I21 Analysis of Education
- I24 Education and Inequality
- I28 Education: Government Policy
- J13 Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
- O15 Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration