Wheels of Change: Transforming Girl’s Lives with Bicycles
Presented by:
Nishith Prakash
Department of Economics and Human Rights Institute (Joint position)
University of Connecticut
Wednesday, December 9, 2020
12:00 pm-1:30 pm
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We study the impact of a program that provides a bicycle to a school-going girl who lives more than 3km from school. We randomized whether a girl receives a bicycle with a small cost to her family to cover replacement parts, a bicycle where these costs are covered by the program and so is zero cost to the family, or a control group. We find that the bicycle reduced average commuting time to school by 35% and decreased absenteeism by 27% in the short and long-run. We also find evidence of long-run increased grade transition, 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 that impacts are greatest for girls that live far, but not too far, from school . This also suggests that empowerment outcomes worked through schooling effects.