The heterogeneous effect of information on student performance: evidence from a randomized control trial in Mexico

We use data from the randomized control trial of the Percepciones pilot to study whether providing 10th grade students with information about the average earnings associated with different educational attainments, about life expectancy, and about obtaining funding for higher education can contribute to improving student performance. We find that the intervention had no effects on a proxy for on-time high school completion, but a positive and significant impact on standardized test scores and selfreported measures of effort. The effects on standardized test scores are larger for girls and for students from households with relatively high incomes. We find evidence that only students with adequate initial conditions are able to translate increased effort into improved school performance. Girls in the treatment group are more likely to have changed their aspirations