Essays on Experimental Evidence for Improving Higher Education in Developing Countries

Abstract

This dissertation consists of three essays that present experimental evidence on improving higher education in developing countries. The first chapter, “How Leaders Emerge,” examines the interplay of gender, teamwork, and leadership through a 2x2 randomized field experiment involving 203 mixed-gender teams in a project-based competition at an engineering college in rural India. I find that female-majority teams that choose their own leaders outperform other groups by 0.38-0.51σ, driven by greater teamwork and more effective leadership. The second chapter, “Misperceptions about Caste,” studies how misperceptions about caste disparities influence attitudes toward caste and support for redistribution through affirmative action in higher education. I surveyed 774 college-aged respondents and find that while upper an lower-caste youth both underestimate caste disparities, upper-caste youth underestimate disparities to a larger extent. Correcting misperceptions through an information intervention improves attitudes toward lower-caste groups by 0.13σ but does not alter support for affirmative action. The third chapter, “Women Engineers,” conducts a descriptive analysis of a program designed to address barriers to women’s STEM education in India. Across five cohorts, the program attracts a broad applicant pool with 55-60% from rural areas and 60- 85% from low-income families. I also find evidence of a “perception gap” in confidence between low and high-income women engineers: while self-reported confidence is identical across income groups, interviewers perceive low-income women as less confident.