@article{caccf7ea84e0405c9f62927fb253af4d,
title = "Mentors or teachers? Microenterprise training in Kenya",
abstract = "We use a randomized controlled trial to demonstrate that inexperienced female microenterprise owners in a Kenyan slum benefit from mentorship by an experienced entrepreneur in the same community. Mentorship increases profits by 20 percent on average with initially large effects that fade as matches dissolve. We conduct a formal business education intervention, which has no effect on profits despite changes in business practice. Our results demonstrate that missing information is a salient barrier to profitability, but the type of information matters: access to the localized, specific knowledge of mentors increases profit while abstract, general information from the class does not.",
author = "Wyatt Brooks and Kevin Donovan and Johnson, {Terence R.}",
note = "Funding Information: * Brooks: University of Notre Dame, 3060 Jenkins Nanovic Halls, Notre Dame, IN 46556 (email: wbrooks@ nd.edu); Donovan: Yale School of Management, 165 Whitney Avenue, New Haven, CT 06511 (email: kevin. donovan@yale.edu); Johnson: University of Notre Dame, 3060 Jenkins Nanovic Halls, Notre Dame, IN 46556 (email: tjohns20@nd.edu). Thanks to conference and seminar participants at Arizona State, Notre Dame, the World Bank, York University, the Chicago Fed Development Workshop, Development Day (Michigan), the Econometric Society NASM (Penn), IGC Growth Week at LSE, the NBER Summer Institute (Productivity, Entrepreneurship, and Development), NEUDC (MIT), the World Bank ABCDE for comments and insights, especially Nick Bloom, Paco Buera, Bill Evans, Xavi Gin{\'e}, Joe Kaboski, Molly Lipscomb, David McKenzie, Ezra Oberfield, and Chris Woodruff. This paper also benefitted substantially from discussions by Paulo Bastos, Jing Cai, and Dan Keniston, along with comments and suggestions from two anonymous referees. We thank the Ford Family Program and the Helen Kellogg Institute for International Studies for financial support, including Bob Dowd and Dennis Haraszko for their help coordinating the project, and Lawrence Itela, Jackline Aridi, and Maurice Sikenyi for their excellent work managing the project in Dandora. Brian Mukhaya provided outstanding research assistance. This research was conducted under University of Notre Dame IRB protocol 14-05-1801. Funding Information: We thank the Ford Family Program and the Helen Kellogg Institute for International Studies for financial support, including Bob Dowd and Dennis Haraszko for their help coordinating the project, and Lawrence Itela, Jackline Aridi, and Maurice Sikenyi for their excellent work managing the project in Dandora. Brian Mukhaya provided outstanding research assistance. This research was conducted under University of Notre Dame IRB protocol 14-05-1801 Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2018 American Economic Association.",
year = "2018",
month = oct,
day = "1",
doi = "10.1257/app.20170042",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "10",
pages = "196--221",
journal = "American Economic Journal: Applied Economics",
issn = "1945-7782",
publisher = "American Economic Association",
number = "4",
}