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DISCUSSION PAPER SERIES

IZA DP No. 15076

Nathan Fiala

Ana Garcia-Hernandez

Kritika Narula

Nishith Prakash

Wheels of Change:

Transforming Girls' Lives with Bicycles

FEBRUARY 2022

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DISCUSSION PAPER SERIES

IZA DP No. 15076

Wheels of Change:

Transforming Girls' Lives with Bicycles

FEBRUARY 2022

Nathan Fiala

University of Connecticut, Makerere Univer-

sity and RWI-Leibniz Institute for Economic

Research

Ana Garcia-Hernandez

Universidad del Rosario

and Innovations for Poverty Action

Kritika Narula

Analysis Group

Nishith Prakash

University of Connecticut, IZA, HiCN, and

CReAM

ABSTRACT

IZA DP No. 15076FEBRUARY 2022

Wheels of Change:

Transforming Girls' Lives with Bicycles

Reducing the gender gap in education is a primary goal for many countries. Two major challenges for many girls are the distance to school and their safety when commuting to school. In Zambia, we studied the impact of providing a bicycle to a school-going girl who lives more than 3 km from the school. We randomized whether a girl received a bicycle with a small cost to her family to cover

replacement parts, a bicycle where these costs are covered by the program, and therefore is zero cost

to the family, or a control group. One year after the intervention, we find that the bicycle reduced average commuting time to school by 35%, reduced late arrival by 66%, and decreased absenteeism by 27%. We find continued improvement in girls' attendance and reduction in dropouts two, three, and four years after the intervention. We also find evidence of improved math test scores, girls expressing higher feelings of control over their lives and, for those who received bicycles with a

small cost to her family, higher levels of aspirations, self-image, and a desire to delay marriage and

pregnancy. Heterogeneity analysis by distance to school shows an inverted U-shape for most of the schooling and empowerment results, suggesting greater impact for girls that live further away from school. These results suggest that empowerment outcomes worked through increased attendance in school.

JEL Classification: H42, I21, I25, J16, O15

Keywords: girls' education, attendance, dropout, grade transition, test scores, bicycles, female aspiration, female empowerment, safety, Zambia

Corresponding author:

Nishith Prakash

Department of Economics

University of Connecticut

365 Fairfield Way, Oak Hall, Room 331

Storrs, CT 06269-1063

USA

E-mail: nishith.prakash@uconn.edu

* We are grateful for comments provided at various points during this study by Prashant Bharadwaj, Lasse Brune,

Alex Cohen, Alexander Coutts, Manisha Desai, Taryn Dinkelman, Esther Duflo, Thomas Fujiwara, Siddharth George,

Rachel Glennerster, Rema Hanna, Macartan Humphreys, Lakshmi Iyer, Tarun Jain, Matthew E. Kahn, Dean Karlan,

Daniel Keniston, Gaurav Khanna, Asim Khwaja, Michael Kremer, Matt Lowe, Robert Metcalfe, Nirajana Mishra, Ahmed

Mushfiq Mobarak, Dilip Mookherjee, Priya Mukherjee, Karthik Muralidharan, Nathan Nunn, Daniele Paserman,

Gautam Rao, Deepak Saraswat, Alexandra Scacco, Frank Schilbach, Danila Serra, Christopher Udry, Anjali P. Verma

and seminar and conference participants at NEUDC (2021), 3 rd

Annual Economics Conference (Ashoka University),

15 th Annual Conference on Economic Growth and Development, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad,

Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, University of Rochester, Boston University, Emory University, Harvard

Kennedy School (WAPPP), University of Notre Dame, Reserve Bank of India, Louisiana State University, University of

St. Andrews, University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, International Food Policy Research

Institute, and The World Bank. We thank Mahesh Dahal, Margarida Ortigão, and Olivia Siegl for excellent research

assistance and the study participants for generously giving their time. We thank Emma Lambert-Porter, the field

officers at Innovations for Poverty Action Zambia and all the staff from World Bicycle Relief Zambia, especially Alisha

Meyers, and Lawrence Banda. The study was pre-registered with the AEA Trial Registry (RCT ID: AEARCTR-0003339).

Funding for this study was provided by Innovations for Poverty Action,World Bicycle Relief, UBS Optimus Foundation,

and University of Connecticut. Any errors are entirely our own. "Ifir streceivedit,Iwas everywhere[ridingthebicycle allthe time]and Ineverusedto carryanyoneonthe

bicycle...Iusedt ocleanit wheneverano therper sontouches... Whenyou rideaclean bicycleyoueven feellike

aqueen. "-Girlfromatreatmentschool

1Introduction

Despiteconsiderable progressinclosingt hegendergapin education,there stillexis tseveral barriers tohumancapitalaccumulationf orgirls indev elopingcountries. 1

Significantbarriersamong these

includecost ofschooling,distancet oschool,saf ety,lack ofagency,anddeep-roo tedculturalnorms. Addressingtheseg ender-specificbarrierstohuman capitalaccumulationisamajorpolicygoalf or developingcountriesduetot heirfar -reachingimplications onthewell-beingof women(Duflo,2012; Jayachandran,2015)andcountr y'sg rowthanddevelopment(UNDP,2008;Antonopoulos,2009). Inthis paper,westudy ifaninterventionin ruralZambiat hatprovidesavaluable asset-a bicycle -t oanadolescentgirlin aresourcecons traineden vironment,whichdirectlyalleviates herdistance andsaf etycostsofeducation,can leadhertohaving highermeasuresof empow erment andimpro ved chancesoflong-ter mwell-being byincreasinghereducationalattainment. Thesecostsareespeciall y relevantinruralZambiawhere almost 98%ofthegirlsinoursam plewalk toschool. Onaverag e, thegirlssurv eyedinoursam pletravelapproximately110minutesoneway toschool, and35%report beingsexuall yharassedduringtheir commute. 2

Priorliterature suggeststhat thereisadetrimental

impactofdistancet oschoolon girls'enrollment(MuralidharanandPrakash,2017;Hawke,2015), andlackof safety onwomen 'shumancapitalattainment( Borker,2020;Evansetal.,2021b).Furt her- more,walking long-distancestoschoolcan a!ectthe intensivemarginoflear ningthroughitsimpact onstudent absenteeismandpunctuality. 3 Inaddition,concer nsfor personalsafetydonot onlyhave immediateconsequences onwomen 'sph ysicalandpsychologicalwell-being,buttheyalsoha vean impactonlong-term decisionssuch asemploymentchoices. 4

Apolicyaimed attransf orminggir ls'

livesbyalleviating someofthecosts ofeducationisimportantf orZambia, andfor otherdeveloping 1

Womenhave moreeducationtodaythanthe ydidfif tyyears agoineverycountry intheworld (BarroandLee ,2013),

however,adultwomenstillhavelesseducationthan meninmore thantwo-thir dsofthewor ld'scountries(Evansetal.,

2021a).

2

Althoughlong-distancest oschoolisaproblemf oreveryone, itis especiallycritical forgir lswhoreach pubertyaround

thisageand faceadditionalrisks,including thedang erofbeingassaultedont hewa ytoschool( Hawke,2015). 3

NationalAssessmentresultsinZambia showt hatthe longer thedis tancepupilstraveled toschool,thelo wertheir

learningachievement( UNICEF,2014). 4

Womenarewillingto receivea lower paymentinanexperimentt hatinvolv esapo tentiallydangerousjourneyto thelab

(BecerraandGuerra,2021),orw ork fewerhoursafterwor kinghoursinacademia(Trawalteretal.,2020). 1 countries. 5 Westudythe impactofprovidingbicy clestoadolescentgirls byexperimentallyv aryingt hedistri- butionofbicyclestogirlsinschool.Wehypothesizethattheprovisionofabicycleswillha veanimpact ongirls 'empowermentandeducationaloutcomes.Firs t,weexpecttheprovision ofbicycle-owningarel- su!ragemovement,includingSusan B.AnthonyintheUnited States,ha vehighlighted the rolethat bicyclesplayedin empoweringwomeninthe 19 th centurybyenhancingt heirindependence,control, self-reliance,self-respect,mobility ,andfreedom (Macy,2011).Thereis alsoa sizableliterature that suggeststhatprovidingassets toadolescentgirlsim provestheirem power mentoutcomesthroughin- creasedself-confidence,r aisingtheir aspirations,andincreasingtheir autonomyov erimportantlife decisions. 6 Second,b ydecreasingthedaily distancecos tofschoolattendance,we expectanimpacton accessto education. 7 Further,weexpectbicyclesto provideasaferw ayof travelingto school,which 8

And,finally ,weexpect

improvementsinfemaleempower mentandeducational outcomestobolstereach other(Samarakoon etal.,2021). Weimplementedthis randomizedcontrolledtrialin 100schoolsincollaborationswit htheWorld BicycleRelief(WBR)and theMinistryof GeneralEducation inZambia. WBRprovidedbicyclest o onthe conditionthatitbeused primarilyf orattendingschool. 9

Werandomlydivided theschoolsinto

twotreatmentgroups andacontrol group.Thetwotreatment groupsdi !erin theoblig ationofthe Arm'(25schools),the parentspay asmallupfront amount(!$5) 10 tocoverreplacement parts,while inthe 'NoPaymentAr m'(20schools),parentspay nothing($0)tocover replacementparts.Across 5

Zambiahas oneoft hehighest levels ofgenderinequalityint heworld.It isranked116outof145in theW orldEconomic

Forum'sGlobalGenderGapIndexfor2015.

6 girlsinlow -andlo wer-middle-incomecountriesontheirpsy chologicalwell being. 7

MuralidharanandPrakash(2017)study astate-widecyclingprog ramin theIndianstatesof Biharandfindthat the

policyincreasedgir ls'enrollment insecondaryschoolsby32%andreduced the genderg apby40%.Thes tudyalsofinds an

18%increasein thenumber ofgirls whoappearforthe high-stakes secondary schoolcertificateexamanda12% increasein

thenumberofgir lswhopass theexam. 8

Borker(2020)findst hatwomen inDelhi,Indiachooseworse educationoutcomesforthemsel ves inorder toa voids treet

harassment,andthat they arewillingtoincuran additionalexpenseofUSD310peryeart otr avel byaroutethat inone

standarddeviationsafer. 9

Thisisenf orcedby aBicycleSupervisor yCommittee(BSC),whichincludesmembers ofthe communityandtheschool,

usingtheir ownsetofrules. 10

Thisisabout 6.5%oft hea verag erur almonthlyhouseholdexpenditure intheSouthernProvince(CSO,1991-2017).

2 thetwotreatment groups,2,471girlsreceiv edthe bicycles,withcompliance of99.99%. 11

Therewas no

di!erentialtak e-upbythetw otreatmentgroups.Theremaining 55schoolsareinthe controlgroup. Optimalpricingofgoods withlar gespillo versis ofconsiderablepolicyinterest, aspricesa!ectnot justthedemandf orgoods,butalsot heirutilization( Morgan,2010).Proponents ofthe "cost-sharing" methodarguethat usageintensitywillbe higher,aschargingpositiv epricescanhave apsychological

1980).

12 Thus,charging asmallupfrontcostin the'P aymentAr m'couldinduce parentstopusht heir girlstouset hebicyclemore.At thesame time,the"actofpa yment"actsasasignal ofquality( Cohen etal.,2010)or, inthiscontext,a signalofparents 'willingnesstoinv estin girls' education,which couldindependentl yimprovet heirself-worthandrelatedempowermentoutcomes. Ontheot her hand,charging a"zeroprice"andtakinga way themonetar yaspect oft hetransaction caninduce feelingsofsocialandmor alrelationship,t herebyreducing improperusag eoftheproduct (Ariely etal.,2018).Specifically ,itislikelytoreduce occurrencesofmisuse ofbicy clesbytheparents,making theownershipofbicy clesmoresalientfort hegirls inthe'No Payment Arm'. Therefore,conceptually itis notob viousiftheimpact oftheprogram willbelar gerfort he'PaymentArm' orthe 'NoPayment Arm'. Theinterv entionhadanimpactonsever aloutcomest hatw erepre-registeredatAEARCTR -0003339 (detailsinSection4.4.4).Firs t,wemeasuretheimpactof theinterventiononfourfirst-stageoutcomes, thosethatrelatet othereductionofdis tancecost ofschoolattendance,both intermsofdis tanceand safetyconcerns.Oney earafterthe intervention, thegirlsint hepooledtreatmentgroup('P ayment Arm'+'NoP aymentAr m')were88%morelik elytohaveaccess toabicyclevis-à-vis girlsinthe controlgroup. Thetimetheyt ookto commuteto schooldecreasedbyabout35minutesone way, 13 whichtr anslatestoa34%decrease fromthebaselinecommutingtime. Theinterv entionimpro ved the measuresofactual safety. Inparticular, theinterventionreducedthe probabilityofgir lsbeingteased orwhistled-at ontheway toschool byabout22%,andt heprobabilitythatagirlmissed schoolorleft forhomeearl yfromschool duetoconcernsofsafetyb yabout39%. Theimpact onsaf etyisespecially relevantsince35%ofthegir lsinbaseline reportedbeinghar assedont heirwayt oschool. 11 Only1girl outoft he2,471selectedrefusedthe cycleas reportedby theWorldBicy cleR elief. 12

Thereare alsoadditionalselection e!ectsofchar gingpositive prices,whichcanincreaseusage intensitybyscreening

individualswith thegreatestpropensity toconsume(Oster,1995;Ashrafetal.,2010),butcan alsodampen demandand

reduceprogr amcoveragesubstantiall y(Cohenet al.,2010).Thesee !ectsareno tapplicablein ourcontextsincetake upis

100%inall treatmentarms.

13

Thisisa selfreportedmeasure askingthe girls howmuch timeitt ookthem togetto schoolinthepre viousweek.

3 Second,w efindthatthe provisionof bicyclesledtoan increaseinempow ermentoutcomesfor thegirlsin thetreatmentschools.Overall,the indexofem powermentim proved by0.12 s.dforgirls inthe pooledtreatmentgroupcompared tot hoseint hecontrolgroup.Specificall y,theinterv en- tionimpro vedthegirls'locusofcontrol,bar gaining,pro-sociality,andself-imag e,butdidnothavea significantimpact ontheirmobility,aspir ations,ordesired fertility.We findthattheindex oflocus ofcontrolincreased by0.18 s.d,barg ainingby0.21s.d,andpro-sociality by0.15 s.dforgirlsint he treatmentschoolsf ort hepooledtreatment('Payment Arm'+'NoP aymentAr m').F urthermore,the interventionimprovedthe indexofaspirationsby0.12s.d,and desiredfertility andage ofmarriageby

0.18s.dforthegir lsinthe'Pa ymentArm'butnotforthoseint he'NoPayment Arm'.

Third,theinterv entionimproved severalmeasuresofeducationaloutcomesf orgirlsinthetreat- mentschools. Wefind thattheinterv entionreducedo verallself-reportedabsenteeismb y29%,which translatestoanaddition ofabout5schooldays peracademicy ear.F urthermore, the intervention also reducedself-reportednumber ofdays thegir lsarrived latetoschoolb y1.45days,whichtr anslates toa66%reductionvis-à-vis thegir lsint hecontrolg roup.F inally,wefind thattheinterv entionim- provedMathematicstestscores by0.11s.d,but hadnoim pactonEnglish testscores. 14

Thee!ectsize

onMathematics testscoreisconsis tentwiththeconditional andunconditionalcash transfer literature, whichconcludes thatt hee!ectsoft heseinterv entionsonstudentachiev ementaresmallatbest(Baird etal.,2013). 15 Fourth,wecollectedadministrativ edataonattendance,dropouts, andgr ade-transitionsin2019, andwhent heschoolsreopened afterCOVID-19in 2020and2021. Wefind theimpacton schoolatten- anim pactondropoutsandgr adetransition oneyear aftert heinterventionin2018asmeasured atthe endline(the meanfordropoutswas 6%,andf orgradetr ansition95%in thecontrolgroup),w efind a17%decline indropoutsin 2021(37% in2019,21% in2020),and a19%increase ingr ade-transition in2021,using administr ativedata fromtheschools.Theseimpactsareespeciallyimportant froma policystandpoint duetothe over allworseningimpactof COVID-19onhumancapital accumulation. Fifth,wecollecteddataontime-useandf oundthattheinter vention ledto adecreasein timespentquotesdbs_dbs14.pdfusesText_20

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