Enhancing Human Capital in Children: A Case Study on Scaling

Abstract

This paper provides novel insights into the science of scaling by examining an educa-tional mentoring program in Mexico. The empirical analysis encompasses two independent field experiments, and seizes a unique opportunity to learn from the government’s implementation of the same intervention. While the program originally implemented at scale demonstrates limited effectiveness, the introduction of a new modality with enhanced mentor training significantly improves children’s outcomes. Mentor-parent interactions are found to stimulate parental engagement at the community-school level. Our findings support the hypothesis that parents can play an important role in facili-tating the scalability of educational programs.

Replaces

Francesco Agostinelli, Ciro Avitabile, and Matteo Bobba, “Enhancing Human Capital in Children: A Case Study on Scaling”, TSE Working Paper, n. 21-1196, March 2021, revised October 2023.

Reference

Francesco Agostinelli, Ciro Avitabile, and Matteo Bobba, “Enhancing Human Capital in Children: A Case Study on Scaling”, Journal of Political Economy, 2024, forthcoming.