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dc.titleOrder Effects and Employment Decisions: Experimental Evidence from a Nationwide Program
dc.contributor.authorAjzenman, Nicolás
dc.contributor.authorElacqua, Gregory
dc.contributor.authorMarotta, Luana
dc.contributor.authorWesth Olsen, Anne Sofie
dc.contributor.orgunitEducation Division
dc.coverageEcuador
dc.date.available2021-08-23T00:00:00
dc.date.issue2021-08-23T00:00:00
dc.description.abstractIn this paper, we show that order effects operate in the context of high-stakes, real-world decisions: employment choices. We experimentally evaluate a nationwide program in Ecuador that changed the order of teaching vacancies on a job application platform in order to reduce teacher sorting (that is, lower-income students are more likely to attend schools with less qualified teachers). In the treatment arm, the platform showed hard-to-staff schools (institutions typically located in more vulnerable areas that normally have greater difficulty attracting teachers) first, while in the control group teaching vacancies were displayed in alphabetical order. In both arms, hard-to-staff schools were labeled with an icon and identical information was given to teachers. We find that a teacher in the treatment arm was more likely to apply to hard-to-staff schools, to rank them as their highest priority, and to be assigned to a job vacancy in one of these schools. The effects were not driven by inattentive, altruistic, or less-qualified teachers. The program has thus helped to reduce the unequal distribution of qualified teachers across schools of different socioeconomic backgrounds.
dc.format.extent51
dc.identifier.doihttp://dx.doi.org/10.18235/0003558
dc.identifier.urlhttps://publications.iadb.org/publications/english/document/Order-Effects-and-Employment-Decisions-Experimental-Evidence-from-a-Nationwide-Program.pdf
dc.language.isoen
dc.mediumAdobe PDF
dc.publisherInter-American Development Bank
dc.subjectTeacher Distribution
dc.subjectTeacher Selection
dc.subjectEducational Institution
dc.subjectTest Score
dc.subjectLabor Force
dc.subject.jelcodeI24 - Education and Inequality
dc.subject.jelcodeD91 - Intertemporal Household Choice • Life Cycle Models and Saving
dc.subject.jelcodeI25 - Education and Economic Development
dc.subject.keywordsOrder Effects;Teacher sorting;Satisficing
idb.identifier.pubnumberIDB-WP-01266
idb.operationRG-E1672
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