Essays on the Role of Information in Human Capital Investments.

Summary In the first chapter, co-authored with Bruno Crépon, we study the impact of an experiment aimed at increasing the use of health care by unemployed youth in France. Young people in precarious situations are more likely to underinvest in their health, which can have short and long-term economic and social consequences. In this study, we examine two possible barriers: the cost of care, and misperception of need. Using a randomized experiment, we find that informing these youth individually about their needs as well as the health insurance system increases their investments, including doubling the likelihood of seeing a psychologist. Our results also suggest that such an intervention can promote entry into training. In order to distinguish between barriers related to the cost of care and barriers related to a misperception of needs, we also test an intervention in which young people receive only information on the health insurance system. Unlike the combined intervention, this intervention does not increase the use of health care, highlighting the crucial role of subjective perceptions in health care decisions.In the second chapter, based on work with Marc Gurgand, Nina Guyon, and Marion Monnet, we evaluate a policy of referring children living in sensitive urban areas (ZUS) in France to facilities that address their difficulties. In the ZUS, some children tend to accumulate academic difficulties, health problems, socialization problems, and sometimes family problems. The policy studied consists of setting up individualized and multidimensional interventions for the children, involving their parents and their teacher. These interventions consist, for example, of enrolling the child in a sports club, carrying out a health check-up, and offering administrative assistance to parents, and rely on the resources available at the commune level. In order to identify a causal effect, we implement matching methods that we combine with a difference-in-differences estimator. We find that the program has no effect on children's behavior or cognitive skills, and a negative effect on socialization and school motivation. It does, however, reduce absenteeism. A comparison with other schemes suggests that early and more intensive interventions are needed to improve the situation of these disadvantaged children.In the third chapter, I examine the extent to which information policies designed to guide high school students in the transition to higher education increase the use of scholarships among disadvantaged students in Canada. The growing doubts about the ability of financial aid policies to reduce inequalities in access to higher education lead to questions about the conditions for their effectiveness. This study aims to better understand the informational barriers that students face. Based on a controlled experiment, I model the demand for scholarships as a function of the perceived utility of the university, which itself depends on the level of information of young people. I then use the model to simulate different information policies that are often implemented but rarely evaluated. Informing young people about the financial aid system is particularly effective. Meeting with a school counselor or taking a skills and guidance test also increases the use of aid. Simulations suggest that such schemes could equalize demand between advantaged and disadvantaged students.