Raising Aspirations of Boys and Girls through Role Models: Evidence from a Field Experiment
研究通过随机对照试验评估榜样干预对中国农村小学生志向和学业成绩的影响，发现男孩成绩提升显著且持久，女孩仅短期受益，且对低志向、低自我效能或低认知能力儿童效果更明显。
We analyse gender differences in children’s aspirations and academic beliefs that affect their academic potential. We use administrative data on the test scores of a primary school in rural China and a novel survey instrument in the evaluation of a randomised controlled trial of a role-model intervention. Our intervention increases Chinese test scores by 0.116 standard deviations, which is driven by boys’ 0.33–0.35 standard-deviation performance boost that persists into 1 year after the treatment. Girls only experience a short-term increase in performance within a week after the treatment. The impact of the treatment is especially pronounced for children starting with low aspiration, self-efficacy, or cognitive ability. While there is no average impact on Mathematics test scores, we find that boys holding traditional gender attitudes and having a high self-efficacy, and girls of high self-efficacy and aspirations, perform better in response to the treatment. Aspirations, confidence, and gender attitudes account for parts of our findings.