EDINCLUSION built upon preliminary work that, at the time of writing the proposal, suggested that most applicants to the quota seats were inframarginal. Since that time, we have made substantial progress:
1. Completion of foundational research for ERC-funded fieldwork: As noted earlier, this proposal built on previous research and further work that was planned (but not implemented) at the time of application. An important part of our work in 2023 focused primarily on completion of the analysis of previously collected data and of ensuring that we took in all relevant feedback from scientific colleagues in designing the complex set of experiments that would be funded by ERC. The initial working paper was updated, submitted to successive journals and has now received a “Revise and Resubmit” decision at the Review of Economic Studies. This paper was also presented in several conferences and invited seminars at ~10 universities. A clearer understanding of past data, plus the feedback from colleagues globally, on the first paper was crucial in helping us better design the field experiment and measurement in the ERC-funded fieldwork.
2. Revised design for the field experiment to improve access: Based on the results from the foundational research, we revised the design of field experiments to improve application rates in the private school quotas. In particular, we broadened the scope of the experiment substantially to (a) study multiple potential ways to target potential applicants, (b) ensure that we are statistically well-powered both for detecting complementarities between information only and application assistance, and (c) generate the optimal data structure to then use machine learning techniques to improve targeting. We also revised the timeline of the activities to first prioritize the experiment and then the study of administrative lotteries. The final design required a substantial redesign of both sampling and measurement and is substantially improved (in terms of statistical precision and scope) than the initially proposed experiment. In particular, we made several innovations in measuring the preferences of parents for their children’s schooling and the constraints that prevent policy take-up, as well as in the design of experiments to study geographic targeting of interventions where reliable population rosters may not be available.
3. Completion of two large rounds of fieldwork in Chhattisgarh: We conducted baseline household surveys in Jan-March 2024 covering ~10,000 households in 7 districts. A subset of these households were randomized to also (i) receive information about the upcoming application round OR (ii) receive the offer of assistance to help apply OR both (to estimate if there are complementarities between the two treatments). These households were then reinterviewed between July-September 2024 to collect data on the primary outcomes i.e. whether they applied, whether they received a seat and the enrolment of all children in the households; we also administered age- and context-appropriate learning assessments to these students. A further round of data collection is planned from July 2025 to collect data that will allow us to estimate effects of school types on learning, and also to make substantive progress on understanding school markets.
4. Initial analysis of experimental results: Between November 2024 and March 2025, we have also finished the initial analysis of the experiment on all pre-specified outcomes (i.e. the “core” results of the experiment). We have now presented this in workshops in several universities internationally for initial feedback. The principal intention, beyond dissemination, is to also collect scientific feedback from some of the best research groups globally on further analyses that should be prioritized before proceeding with preparation of initial manuscripts.
5. Design of data collection for studying effects of natural lotteries: The basic structure of proposed data collection for Work Package 1 has not changed substantially, but has required substantial data cleaning and analysis in advance of the sampling for data collection using phone-based surveys. This process was completed in January 2025 and phone-based data collection has now started in March 2025. In person collection of data on student learning outcomes will then proceed from July 2025.
