Mauricio Romero, ITAM

Paper: Navigating Multiple Frictions: Experimental evidence for impacting voucher take-up at scale

Abstract: Many eligible families fail to apply for social programs due to multiple frictions such as information constraints and application complexity. This study evaluates a large-scale randomized controlled trial (RCT) testing interventions to increase take-up of the 25% reservation for disadvantaged children in private schools under India’s Right to Education (RTE) Act. Conducted across urban and rural areas in Chhattisgarh, the experiment evaluates the effects of information provision and application assistance — both independently and in combination. The design allows us to assess complementarities between interventions and heterogeneities across socioeconomic groups and geographic areas. Preliminary findings suggest that application assistance significantly increases take-up, while information provision alone has a more limited impact. There is no evidence of complementarities between the interventions. While treatment effects vary across areas, machine learning methods fail to accurately predict these effects out-of-sample.