Training to end poverty? by Stefano Caria

Join us for the latest Applied Economics Research Seminar Series event, Spring Term 2026.

Stefano Caria, from the University of Oxford, will present this week's seminar on Training to end poverty?.

Abstract

Can training interventions reduce poverty? In a large RCT in urban Bangladesh, we document four key facts about an NGO-run training program. First, there is minimal demand for training when participants are required to pay for the full cost of the program. Second, demand can be boosted substantially by either offering monetary discounts, or by relying on the NGO recruitment protocol, which persuades uncertain prospective trainees of the benefits of the programs. Third, while lowering training prices attracts poorer trainees on average, NGO recruitment skews selection towards less deprived individuals. Fourth, the marginal trainees attracted under the NGO recruitment protocol experience larger benefits from the program, while the marginal trainees attracted with price discounts experience lower benefits. We conclude by studying, through the help of a structural model, whether a combination of price discounts and the NGO recruitment protocol can target the program to high-deprivation, high-benefit individuals.

The seminar will begin with a presentation and will end with a Q and A session.

It will be held in the Economics Common Room at 2pm on Thursday, 19 March 2026. This event is open to all levels of study and is also open to the public. To register your place and gain access to the webinar, please contact the seminar organisers.

This event is part of the Applied Economics Research Seminar Series.