Learning Through Living Room Screens: Experimental Evidence from Kenya 

The next LEMMA seminar will host Nicolas Bottan from Cornell University.

Nicolas is an assistant professor in economics at Cornell. His research interests are in the fields of Public, Behavioral and Development Economics. Chech out here. I will send a reminder and a link to sign up for lunch and/or chat.

Nicolas will present: Learning Through Living Room Screens: Experimental Evidence from Kenya 

Abstract: We present experimental evidence on the effects of over-the-air educational TV on literacy and socio-emotional skills. In a randomized encouragement design with 4,300 Kenyan children, watching a literacy-focused show increased reading comprehension by 9% and curiosity by 12% of a standard deviation, with stronger effects among English-speaking households. Studying mechanisms, we find that the effects are driven by the show's content itself, not by changes in time use, preferences, or parental inputs. However, the program inadvertently reinforced traditional gender norms. At $18.48 per standard deviation, it is highly cost-effective. Results highlight both the promise and limits for educational media.