When analysing choices or policy impacts, economists generally rely on what people actually do, rather than what they say they would do. The "stated response" approach is treated with scepticism due, for example, to concerns regarding the effect of strategic or social considerations on what people say, and a belief that people may not adequately consider such a hypothetical question. This project evaluates an example of this approach; the direct questioning of parents as to whether they would withdraw their children from school if the Familias en Accion education subsidies were withdrawn. This is a potentially important exercise because the effects of withdrawing the programme are not necessarily the reverse of its impact upon introduction; dynamic considerations such as habit formation may be important.

Going forwards this project will look at ways of improving the structure of the question used to ensure that responses are as reliable as possible.

Sample: Familias en Accion sample, 2nd follow-up wave. Contains information on approximately 11,236 children in poor rural households.