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Teaching through television: Experimental evidence on entrepreneurship education in Tanzania

Author

Listed:
  • Bjorvatn, Kjetil

    (Dept. of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration)

  • Cappelen, Alexander W.

    (Dept. of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration)

  • Sekei, Linda Helgesson

    (Development Pioneer Consultants)

  • Sørensen, Erik Ø.

    (Dept. of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration)

  • Tungodden, Bertil

    (Dept. of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration)

Abstract

Can television be used to teach and foster entrepreneurship among youth in developing countries? We report from a randomized control field experiment of an edutainment show on entrepreneurship broadcasted over almost three months on national television in Tanzania. The field experiment involved more than two thousand secondary school students, where the treatment group was incentivized to watch the edutainment show. We find short-term evidence of the edutainment show inspiring the viewers to become more interested in entrepreneurship and business and shaping non-cognitive traits such as risk- and time preferences, and long-term evidence of more business startups; in general, the treatment effects are more pronounced for the female viewers. However, we also find evidence that the encouragement of entrepreneurship discouraged investment in schooling;administrative data show a negative treatment effect on school performance and long-term survey data show that fewer treated students continue schooling.

Suggested Citation

  • Bjorvatn, Kjetil & Cappelen, Alexander W. & Sekei, Linda Helgesson & Sørensen, Erik Ø. & Tungodden, Bertil, 2015. "Teaching through television: Experimental evidence on entrepreneurship education in Tanzania," Discussion Paper Series in Economics 3/2015, Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Economics.
  • Handle: RePEc:hhs:nhheco:2015_003
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    2. Stefano DellaVigna & Eliana La Ferrara, 2015. "Economic and Social Impacts of the Media," NBER Working Papers 21360, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Eliana La Ferrara, 2016. "Mass Media And Social Change: Can We Use Television To Fight Poverty?," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 14(4), pages 791-827, August.
    4. Ghada Barsoum & Bruno Crépon & Drew Gardiner & Bastien Michel & William Parienté, 2022. "Evaluating the Impact of Entrepreneurship Edutainment in Egypt: An Experimental Approach," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 89(353), pages 82-109, January.
    5. Bastien Michel & Samuel Kembou & Sonali Wayal & Joanna Murray, 2023. "Leveraging Mobile Phone Expansion in LMICs to Improve Parental Practices," Working Papers hal-03909663, HAL.
    6. Gehrke, Esther & Lenel, Friederike & Schupp, Claudia, 2022. "Interest exploration and investments in education: Experimental evidence from Cambodia," OSF Preprints k6tqr, Center for Open Science.
    7. Lubega, Patrick & Nakakawa, Frances & Narciso, Gaia & Newman, Carol & Kaaya, Archileo N. & Kityo, Cissy & Tumuhimbise, Gaston A., 2021. "Body and mind: Experimental evidence from women living with HIV," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    8. Marcel Fafchamps & Simon Quinn, 2017. "Aspire," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(10), pages 1615-1633, October.
    9. Manuel Hoffmann & Roberto Mosquera & Adrian Chadi, 2019. "Vaccines at Work," TWI Research Paper Series 116, Thurgauer Wirtschaftsinstitut, Universität Konstanz.
    10. Dalton, Patricio & Rüschenpöhler, Julius & Zia, Bilal, 2018. "Determinants and Dynamics of Business Aspirations : Evidence from Small-scale Entrepreneurs in an Emerging Market," Other publications TiSEM 5208b11c-cf81-45bc-9dd7-e, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    11. Lafortune, Jeanne & Pugatch, Todd & Tessada, José & Ubfal, Diego, 2022. "Can Interactive Online Training Make High School Students More Entrepreneurial? Experimental Evidence from Rwanda," IZA Discussion Papers 15064, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Daniel Vankov & Borislav Vankov, 2023. "Entrepreneurship education 2-in-1: Helping young Bulgarians become more entrepreneurial in a 10-month parallel-group randomized trial," Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 1-23, December.
    13. Entorf, Horst & Hou, Jia, 2018. "Financial Education for the Disadvantaged? A Review," IZA Discussion Papers 11515, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    14. Banerjee,Abhijit & La Ferrara,Eliana & Orozco Olvera,Victor Hugo, 2019. "The Entertaining Way to Behavioral Change : Fighting HIV with MTV," Policy Research Working Paper Series 8998, The World Bank.
    15. Frisancho, Veronica, 2020. "The impact of financial education for youth," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    16. Grady, Christopher & Iannantuoni, Alice & Winters, Matthew S., 2021. "Influencing the means but not the ends: The role of entertainment-education interventions in development," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    17. Slavtchev, Viktor & Wyrwich, Michael, 2023. "The effects of TV content on entrepreneurship: Evidence from German unification," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(2), pages 696-721.
    18. Esther Gehrke & Friederike Lenel & Claudia Schupp, 2023. "Occupational Aspirations and Investments in Education: Experimental Evidence from Cambodia," CESifo Working Paper Series 10608, CESifo.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Field experiment; edutainment; developing countries;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I25 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Economic Development
    • O10 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - General

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