Incentivizing Textbooks for Self-Study: Experimental Evidence from the Democratic Republic of Congo

We use a randomized field experiment to study the impact of a simple “textbooks for self-study” incentive scheme targeting primary school students in South Kivu. Students in the treatment schools scored 0.320s higher in French but did no better in math. They were more likely to take the high-stakes end-of-6th-grade national exam and to aspire to a non-manual profession.. The largest positive impact was found in schools with lower-quality teaching performance and for lower-ability students. Our results demonstrate that programs designed to intensify and diversify students’ use of existing school resources can sharply improve student achievement and career aspirations.

Publisher: Academy of Management