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Humans versus Chatbots: Scaling-up Behavioral Interventions to Reduce Teacher Shortages

Author

Listed:
  • Ajzenman, Nicolas

    (McGill University)

  • Elacqua, Gregory

    (Inter-American Development Bank)

  • Jaimovich, Analía

    (Inter-American Development Bank)

  • Pérez-Núñez, Graciela

    (Inter-American Development Bank)

Abstract

Empirical results in economics often stem from success in controlled experimental settings, but often fail when scaled up. This study presents a behavioral intervention and a scalable equivalent aimed at reducing teacher shortages by motivating high school students to pursue an education degree. The intervention was delivered through WhatsApp chats by trained human promoters (humans arm) and rule-based Chatbots programmed to closely replicate the humans program (bots arm). Results show that the humans arm successfully increased high-school students' demand for and enrollment in education majors, particularly among high-performing students. The bots arm showed positive but smaller and statistically insignificant effects. These findings indicate that a relatively low-cost intervention can effectively reduce teacher shortages, but scaling up such interventions may have limitations. Therefore, testing scalable solutions during the design stage of experiments is crucial.

Suggested Citation

  • Ajzenman, Nicolas & Elacqua, Gregory & Jaimovich, Analía & Pérez-Núñez, Graciela, 2023. "Humans versus Chatbots: Scaling-up Behavioral Interventions to Reduce Teacher Shortages," IZA Discussion Papers 16404, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16404
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    teachers; teacher policy; teacher shortages; scale-up; behavioral; bots;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making
    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions
    • I25 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Economic Development

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