Rachel Cassidy

While poverty may impair decision-making, some of the apparently irrational behaviour observed among the poor may have a rational expectation. In particular, estimates of "present-bias" among the poor may be exaggerated if poor individuals are credit-constrained and expect to have greater liquidity in future. I conduct an experiment in rural Pakistan which provides evidence of this effect.

There is a large gender gap in the likelihood of taking maths and physics at A-level, even among high-achieving pupils. Among pupils who achieved grade A or A* (equivalent to grades 7-9) in GCSE maths in 2010, 36.5% of girls compared to 51.1% of boys took maths A-level. Among those who achieved grade A or A* in GCSE physics, just 13.2% of girls compared to 39.3% of boys took physics A-level. By contrast, there is almost no gender gap in the likelihood of taking chemistry A-level amongst those who score highly in the subject at GCSE, and girls are actually more likely to take biology A-level than boys.

In a new CSAE working paper, IFS researcher Dr Rachel Cassidy uses a randomised controlled trial to examine the link between intra-household bargaining and use of new contraceptive technologies in Mozambique.

Research on savings groups and financial intermediation in Malawi, joint with Professor Marcel Fafchamps, published as a CEPR Working Paper (12715). https://cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=12715