Title page
Contents
Abstract 1
Introduction 5
The design and objectives of interventions providing information on the returns to education 7
Content: What information is provided? 7
Delivery and recipients: Who receives the information and how? 8
Mechanisms of change 8
Methods 9
Search 9
Data extraction and meta-analysis 9
The sample of studies 10
Results 11
Perceptions on returns to education 11
Impact on beliefs and perceptions around returns to education 12
Impact on school participation outcomes 13
Impact on learning outcomes 14
Discussion 15
Heterogeneous treatment effects 15
Differential impacts by gender 15
Differential impacts based on whether returns are over-estimated or under-estimated at baseline 16
Differential impacts based on poverty level 16
Implementation challenges 17
Cost analysis 18
Ethical considerations in information interventions 18
Conclusion 19
References 21
Appendices 35
Appendix A: Standardizing effect size 35
Appendix B: Clustering the outcomes by study 35
References 38
Table 1. Distribution of outcomes from the eligible studies 24
Table 2. Studies that characterize perceptions on returns to education 24
Table 3. Cost-effectiveness data from studies 27
Figure 1. Average effect on beliefs and perceptions (positive effect = more accurate beliefs) 28
Figure 2. Heterogenous effect by gender, poverty, and baseline estimates 30
Figure 3. Average effect on school participation outcomes 31
Figure 4. Average effect on learning outcomes 33
Table A1. Studies included in the review 40
Table A2. Target information recipients 48
Table A3. Average effects by outcome and subgroup using different methods of aggregation 49
Figure A1. Components of interventions that provides information on returns to education and intended outcomes 51
Figure A2. Grade levels of recipient students for informational interventions 52
Figure A3. Average effect on other outcomes 53
Figure A4. Effect for studies that include primary school students 54
Figure A5. Heterogenous effect by gender 55
Figure A6. Heterogenous effect by baseline estimates 56
Figure A7. Heterogenous effect by poverty level 57
Figure A8. Illustrative figure of the fixed costs of production and variable costs of distribution of select information interventions 58