Negotiating a Better Future: How Interpersonal Skills Facilitate Intergenerational Investment*
Quarterly Journal of Economics · 2020 · Nava Ashraf、Natalie Bau、Corinne Low、Kathleen L. McGinn
中文摘要
利用一项随机对照试验，我们研究谈判技能培训能否改善资源匮乏环境下女孩的教育结果。我们发现，向赞比亚八年级女孩提供的谈判培训显著改善了她们随后三年的教育结果，而且这些效应并未消退。为了更好地理解其作用机制，我们估计了另外两种处理的效应。谈判培训的效应远强于信息提供处理，而后者没有产生效应。一项旨在产生较为传统的女童赋权效应的处理，对教育结果的效应方向为正，但在统计上不显著。与该处理相比，谈判培训提高了女孩接受更高质量教育的入学率，并且对高能力女孩的影响更大。这些发现与如下模型一致：谈判使女孩能够解决与父母之间的不完全契约问题，从而增加对教育回报足够高的女孩的教育投资。我们通过一项田野实验室博弈以及对女孩及其监护人的后续调查，为这一作用渠道提供了证据。
Abstract
Abstract Using a randomized controlled trial, we study whether a negotiation skills training can improve girls’ educational outcomes in a low-resource environment. We find that a negotiation training given to eighth-grade Zambian girls significantly improved educational outcomes over the next three years, and these effects did not fade out. To better understand mechanisms, we estimate the effects of two alternative treatments. Negotiation had much stronger effects than an informational treatment, which had no effect. A treatment designed to have more traditional girls’ empowerment effects had directionally positive but insignificant educational effects. Relative to this treatment, negotiation increased enrollment in higher-quality schooling and had larger effects for high-ability girls. These findings are consistent with a model in which negotiation allows girls to resolve incomplete contracting problems with their parents, yielding increased educational investment for those who experience sufficiently high returns. We provide evidence for this channel through a lab-in-the-field game and follow-up survey with girls and their guardians.