Promoting In-Person Attendance for Early Childhood Services to Low-Income Families After the Covid-19 Pandemic Using Text Messages

Abstract

This study investigates whether text messages can encourage caregivers to increase their intention to use in-person early childhood services and subsequently, increase actual attendance. We randomly assigned 719 educational centers that cover 15,100 low-income beneficiaries into one control and two treatment groups. Both treatments consisted of a set of text messages sent to caregivers’ mobile phones over three weeks with information on the safety of children returning to in-person services. The texts for the first treatment group appealed to caregivers’ risk and loss aversion by stressing the potential losses imposed on children who do not attend early childhood education. The messages in the second treatment group emphasized the social norm that children’s attendance is a civic duty of caregivers. Results show greater reported intent from caregivers who receive text messages for their children to attend but no significant differences because of the framing of the messages. However, this increased willingness to attend does not translate into greater effective attendance. These findings suggest that while text messages may be useful to communicate information, these nudges may be insufficient to change behaviors and additional efforts to turn intentions into actions are required. JEL Classification Codes: C93; D90; E70; I12; I20

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