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Teaching Through Television: Experimental Evidence on Entrepreneurship Education in Tanzania

Author

Listed:
  • Kjetil Bjorvatn

    (Department of Economics, NHH Norwegian School of Economics, 5045 Bergen, Norway)

  • Alexander W. Cappelen

    (Department of Economics, NHH Norwegian School of Economics, 5045 Bergen, Norway)

  • Linda Helgesson Sekei

    (NIRAS Tanzania, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania)

  • Erik Ø. Sørensen

    (Department of Economics, NHH Norwegian School of Economics, 5045 Bergen, Norway)

  • Bertil Tungodden

    (Department of Economics, NHH Norwegian School of Economics, 5045 Bergen, Norway)

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 2,000 secondary school students, where the treatment group was incentivized to watch the edutainment show. We find some suggestive evidence of the edutainment show making the viewers more interested in entrepreneurship and business, particularly among females. However, our main finding is a negative effect: the edutainment show discouraged investment in schooling without convincingly replacing it with some other valuable activity. Administrative data show a strong negative treatment effect on school performance, and long-term survey data show that fewer treated students continue schooling, but we do not find much evidence of the edutainment show causing an increase in business ownership. The fact that an edutainment show for entrepreneurship caused the students to invest less in education carries a general lesson to the field experimental literature by showing the importance of taking a broad view of possible implications of a field intervention.

Suggested Citation

  • Kjetil Bjorvatn & Alexander W. Cappelen & Linda Helgesson Sekei & Erik Ø. Sørensen & Bertil Tungodden, 2020. "Teaching Through Television: Experimental Evidence on Entrepreneurship Education in Tanzania," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(6), pages 2308-2325, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:66:y:2020:i:6:p:2308-2325
    DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.2019.3321
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    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. Baul, Tushi & Karlan, Dean & Toyama, Kentaro & Vasilaky, Kathryn, 2024. "Improving smallholder agriculture via video-based group extension," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    15. 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.
    16. Frisancho, Veronica, 2020. "The impact of financial education for youth," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    17. 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).
    18. 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.
    19. 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

    economics; behavior and behavioral decision making; education systems; microeconomic behavior; edutainment;
    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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