Social Restriction-Driven Program Take-Up Heterogeneity
RCTReview
Development interventions frequently experience differential participation because restrictive social norms impose non-monetary costs on session attendance. Women facing fewer cultural barriers participate at higher rates, creating selection bias that can skew unadjusted program evaluations.
Picture this
Imagine offering a free evening fitness class across three neighborhoods. If Neighborhood A has open sidewalks, almost everyone walks over. If Neighborhood C has a strict curfew, few people attend. Evaluating the fitness class based only on those who attended ignores the fact that the people who needed fitness most were trapped by the curfew.
What the evidence says
Overall program take-up exceeded 70%, but Scheduled Caste women (the least restricted group) were nearly 33% more likely to attend training sessions than Muslim and Upper Caste Hindu women, demonstrating that baseline social mobility dictates intervention take-up.
- Who was studied
- N = 636 randomized SEWA Bank clients (597 analyzed: 346 UC, 70 SC, 181 Muslim) in Ahmedabad, India.
- How
- Randomized Controlled Trial evaluating recruitment and attendance across 57 session clusters, utilizing instrumental variables (TOT) to adjust for take-up heterogeneity.
What to do
Incorporate session-clustered instrumental variable specifications and non-monetary attendance support when evaluating interventions in communities with heterogeneous social mobility barriers.
From the source
"SCs, the least restricted group, were nearly one third more likely to attend the training than Muslims and UCs."
Field Entrepreneurs - 103.pdf