Experimental Economics Seminar - Shyamal Chowdhury (University of Sydney)

Experimental and Behavioural Economics Seminar Series

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Laura Liu

yang.liu@unimelb.edu.au

Title: The Right Timing Matters:  Identifying Sensitive Periods in the Formation of Socio-Emotional Skills

Abstract: In a randomized controlled trial with about 3,200 children in grades 2 to 5 in Bangladesh we examine the existence of sensitive periods in the formation of socio-emotional skills. In sensitive periods, returns to investments into skills are particularly high. Using a novel design for identifying sensitive periods, we implement the same intervention in different school grades to study its age-specific treatment effects on children's self-control, patience, and pro-sociality. Our results identify sensitive periods in the formation of self-control and patience around the ages 7 and 8, while pro-sociality appears to be similarly malleable throughout ages 7 to 11.