DP12070 Can Referral Improve Targeting? Evidence from a Vocational Training Experiment

• Marcel Fafchamps Asad Islam Debayan Pakrashi
31 May 2017

We seek to improve the targeting of vocational training by inviting past trainees to select future trainees from a candidate pool. Some referees are rewarded or incentivized. Training increases the adoption of recommended practices and improves performance on average, but not all trainees adopt. Referred trainees are 3.7% more likely to adopt, but rewarding or incentivizing referees does not improve referral quality. When referees receive financial compensation, average adoption increases and referee and referred are more likely to coordinate their adoption behavior.