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Directing young dropouts via SMS: evidence from a field experiment Cover

Directing young dropouts via SMS: evidence from a field experiment

Open Access
|Feb 2022

Figures & Tables

Descriptive statistics of all youths and dropouts during army days

Characteristics% of all youths% of all dropouts

(1)(2)
Gender (male)51.1161.15
Age
  16–17 years old95.5575.24
  18–21 years old3.8521.14
  22–25 years old0.603.62
School
  Lower secondary83.9599.77
  Vocational upper secondary10.580.21
  General upper secondary5.050.02
  Postsecondary0.420.00
Literacy
  Level A88.4464.72
  Level B2.9913.23
  Level C1.875.62
  Level D2.668.56
  Level E3.277.04
Directed
  Toward any partner public institution11.7963.49
  Toward ML agencies2.1932.46
Total number of observations5,514,495237,110

ITT effects

OLS estimatesEntry in agency (0/1)

(1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)
Panel A: impact of SMS
SMS – all−0.0097 (0.0143)−0.0100 (0.0144)−0.0092 (0.0152)−0.0090 (0.0154)−0.0091 (0.0160)−0.0093 (0.0162)
Constant (reference: no SMS)0.1864*** (0.0146)0.1866*** (0.0146)0.1860*** (0.0159)0.1858*** (0.0160)0.1859*** (0.0166)0.1860*** (0.0130)
Panel B: impact of SMS according to language style
SMS – formal−0.0003 (0.0165)−0.0000 (0.0168)0.0016 (0.0170)0.0020 (0.0174)0.0026 (0.0179)0.0019 (0.0181)
SMS – informal−0.0129 (0.0143)−0.0134 (0.0143)−0.0129 (0.0153)−0.0128 (0.0155)−0.0131 (0.0161)−0.0131 (0.0163)
Constant (reference: no SMS)0.1864*** (0.0146)0.1866*** (0.0146)0.1860*** (0.0159)0.1859*** (0.0160)0.1859*** (0.0166)0.1861*** (0.0130)
βSMS Formal = βSMS Informal0.15990.13140.10990.11070.09570.1020
N4,1034,1034,1034,1034,1034,103
Displayed informationNoYesYesYesYesYes
Individual characteristicsNoNoYesYesYesYes
Agency characteristicsNoNoNoYesYesYes
Location characteristicsNoNoNoNoYesYes
Month fixed effectsNoNoNoNoNoYes

Control and treatment groups

GroupName
ControlNo SMS
Treatment 1SMS – formal style

HELLO {YOUTH FIRSTNAME}, THE {AGENCY NAME} ADVISES YOUTHS ON THEIR PROJECTS. MORE INFORMATION AT {AGENCY ADDRESS}. THE 1ST MEETING DOES NOT REQUIRE AN APPOINTMENT.

Treatment 2SMS – informal style

HEY {YOUTH FIRSTNAME}, THE {AGENCY NAME} ADVISES YOUTHS ON THEIR PROJECTS. + <SPECIFIC INFO> +. MORE INFORMATION AT {AGENCY ADDRESS}. THE 1ST MEETING DOES NOT REQUIRE AN APPOINTMENT! ☺
Language: English
Accepted on: Jan 11, 2022
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Published on: Feb 21, 2022
Published by: Sciendo
In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services
Publication frequency: 1 issue per year

© 2022 Jérémy Hervelin, published by Sciendo
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.