Publications [#382740] of Erica Field

Journal Articles

1. Agte, P; Bernhardt, A; Field, E; Pande, R; Rigol, N, Investing in the Next Generation: The Long-Run Impacts of a Liquidity Shock, American Economic Review, vol. 114 no. 9 (September, 2024), pp. 2792-2824 [doi]
   (last updated on 2026/01/18)

   Abstract:
   Poor entrepreneurs must frequently choose between business investment and children’s education. To examine this trade-off, we exploit experimental variation in short-run microenterprise growth among a sample of Indian households and track schooling and business outcomes over eleven years. Treated households, who experience higher initial microenterprise growth, are on average one-third more likely to send children to college. However, educational investment and schooling gains are concentrated among literate-parent households, whose enterprises eventually stagnate. In contrast, illiterate-parent households experience long-run business gains but declines in children’s education. Our findings suggest that microenterprise growth has the potential to reduce relative intergenerational educational mobility.