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Fields Changed

Registration

Field Before After
Study Withdrawn No
Intervention Completion Date June 01, 2014
Data Collection Complete Yes
Final Sample Size: Number of Clusters (Unit of Randomization) 755 firms, 2,360 applicants to apprenticeship (workers), across 32 districts
Was attrition correlated with treatment status? No
Final Sample Size: Total Number of Observations Most main tables include 2 observations per firm for about 1300 observations
Final Sample Size (or Number of Clusters) by Treatment Arms See paper, the randomization is complex (conditional on worker preferences)
Public Data URL https://www.openicpsr.org/openicpsr/project/155121/version/V1/view
Is there a restricted access data set available on request? No
Program Files Yes
Program Files URL https://www.openicpsr.org/openicpsr/project/155121/version/V1/view
Data Collection Completion Date June 01, 2014
Is data available for public use? Yes
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Papers

Field Before After
Paper Abstract We report the results of a field experiment that randomly placed unemployed young people as apprentices with small firms in Ghana, and included no cash subsidy to firms (or workers) beyond in-kind recruitment services. Treated firms experienced increases in firm size of approximately half a worker and firm profits of approximately 10% for each apprentice placement offered, documenting frictions to novice hiring. We interpret the program as providing a novel worker screening technology to firms, as (voluntary) worker participation included non-monetary application costs, echoing the widespread use of an entrance fee mechanism for hiring apprentices in the existing labor market.
Paper Citation Hardy, Morgan, and Jamie McCasland. 2023. "Are Small Firms Labor Constrained? Experimental Evidence from Ghana." American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 15 (2): 253-84.
Paper URL https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/app.20200503&from=f
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