#LEAPTalks
Never for Money! When You Should Not Reward Whistleblowers
A FIELD EXPERIMENT CONDUCTED BY STEFANO FIORIN IN AFGHAN SCHOOLS FOUND THAT THERE ARE TEACHERS WILLING TO FIGHT WIDESPREAD ABSENCE BUT HIGHLIGHTED A MORAL AVERSION TO BEING PAID FOR HARMING OTHERS
The use of whistleblowing to challenge teacher absence in the developing world is worthconsidering, but its effectiveness can be dampened by offering monetary rewards for reporting absent colleagues, according to a field experiment conducted by Stefano Fiorin (Bocconi Laboratory for Effective Anti-Poverty Policies and Department of Economics) with the collaboration of the Afghan Ministry of Education. “Moral aversion to being paid for harming others can reverse the effect of financial incentives,” explains Fiorin in the fourth video of the LEAP Talks series.
FROM MIGRANT WORKER TO OWNER: WHEN TEMPORARY MIGRATION IS USED TO GAIN INITIAL CAPITAL TO BECOME SELF EMPLOYED
Temporary migration of low-skilled workers to higher income destinations can represent an investment opportunity for those who, in their home countries, cannot raise funds to start their own business. A paper by Bocconi’s Laboratory for Effective Anti-poverty Policies (LEAP) scholar Joseph-Simon Goerlach documented the phenomenon for workers migrating from countries in South and Southeast Asia to richer countries such as Malaysia, Singapore or nations on the Arabian Peninsula. This form of migration is costly and risky, but promises high returns, which often are used as capital for self-employment, Goerlach explains in a video of the LEAP Talks series. Therefore, it is an essential factor for policymakers to consider when designing their interventions, such as policies aiming to boost entrepreneurship.
“If you can dream it, you can do it” is a Walt Disney Company motto and might merely sound like a motivational quote. Recent research in business training, however, in fact states that “if you can imagine it, you can do it.”
Neuroscience and psychology have underscored the positive impact of visualizing future scenarios on decision making. Those who invest the effort to imagine the future also have better economic outcomes in the short and medium term. Business training, though, has almost ignored the role of imagery and emotions.
In a working paper with Nava Ashraf, Gharad Bryan, Emily Holmes, Leonardo Iacovone, and Ashley Pope, Bocconi’s Laboratory for Effective Anti-poverty Policies (LEAP) scholar Alexia Delfino found that visualization exercises can make business training more effective, especially for women, vulnerable groups, and people who have undergone trauma.
#LEAPTalks 1
How Parents and Peers Keep Girls away from STEM Disciplines
A NEW STUDY OF THE LABORATORY FOR EFFECTIVE ANTI POVERTY POLICIES UNVEILS THE EFFECTS OF PARENTAL STEREOTYPES AND PEER PRESSURE
Stereotypes held by parents and peers can influence boys and girls in what they decide to study, thus contributing to the underrepresentation of women among the graduates in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) subjects, according to a study by Lucia Corno and Michela Carlana, two scholars affiliated to Bocconi’s Laboratory for Effective Anti-poverty Policies (LEAP).
Michela Carlana, Lucia Corno. “Parents and Peers: Gender Stereotypes in the Field of Study.” Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3960154.