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Reading Fiction And Economic Preferences Of Rural Youth In Burkina Faso, Michael J. Kevane

Economics

This paper presents results from a reading program for youth living in villages in south-western Burkina Faso. Standard experimental games were used to measure the effects of increased reading of fiction on several attitudes and preferences important for economic development. After six months of access and encouragement to read appropriate young adult fiction, there were few differences in any of four measured outcomes (trust, contribution to public goods, risk, and patience) between those participating in the reading program and the control group. Since the rise of mass-distributed novels in the 1800s, many have hypothesized that fiction would have significant effects …