Record Details

Sustainable Transformation for Youth in Liberia

Harvard Dataverse (Africa Rice Center, Bioversity International, CCAFS, CIAT, IFPRI, IRRI and WorldFish)

View Archive Info
 
 
Field Value
 
Title Sustainable Transformation for Youth in Liberia
 
Identifier https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/CORNOC
 
Creator Blattman, Christopher
Jamison, Julian
Koroknay-Palicz, Tricia
Rodrigues, Katherine
Sheridan, Margaret
 
Publisher Harvard Dataverse
 
Description In many fragile states, poor young men with limited economic opportunities drive high rates of crime and violence, and are easily mobilized into destructive activities such as rioting and rebellion. A large body of largely observational evidence in psychology research in the United States demonstrates that cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), a therapeutic approach to improving a wide range of harmful beliefs and behaviors, is an effective way to reduce violence and criminality among children and adolescents. To understand the potential effectiveness of CBT among adults in fragile states, researchers evaluated the impact of a short-term CBT program and the distribution of unconditional cash transfers on the behavior of high-risk young men in Liberia. Results demonstrate that CBT reduced criminal behavior and improved self-control and self-image among participants; these results were greater for participants who received both CBT and cash grants, but cash grants alone had no impact.
 
Subject Social Sciences
Peace & Recovery
Cash Transfers
Savings
Training
Ultra Poor
Time Allocation
Labor Supply
Microeconomic Analyses
Economic Development
Illegal Behavior
Enforcement of Law
Behavioral Microeconomics
 
Language English
 
Contributor Research Support, Innovations for Poverty Action
 
Relation http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2594868
 
Type Surveys, Laboratory games, Direct observations, and Randomly Selected In-Depth Interviews, Community-Based Surveys