{"type":"script","doc_desc":{"producers":[{"name":"Reproducibility WBG","abbr":"DECDI","affiliation":"World Bank - Development Impact Department","role":"Verification and preparation of metadata"}],"prod_date":"2026-06-05","version":"1"},"project_desc":{"authoring_entity":[{"name":"Patrick Premand","affiliation":"World Bank","email":"ppremand@worldbank.org"},{"name":"Oscar Barrera Rodriguez","affiliation":"University College Dublin","email":"oscar.barrerarodriguez@ucd.ie"},{"name":"Karen Macours","affiliation":"Paris School of Econmics","email":"karen.macours@psemail.eu"},{"name":"Renos Vakis","affiliation":"World Bank","email":"rvakis@worldbank.org"}],"title_statement":{"title":"Reproducibility package for Texting Parents About Early Child Development: Behavioral Changes And Unintended Social Effects","idno":"PP_NIC_2026_674"},"data_statement":"All data is not yet publicly available but is expected to be made available through the World Bank Microdata Library in the future","software":[{"name":"Stata","version":"19.5"}],"scripts":[{"title":"Reproducibility package for Texting Parents About Early Child Development: Behavioral Changes And Unintended Social Effects","date":"2026-06","notes":"Computational reproducibility verified by Development Impact (DECDI) Analytics team, World Bank.","instructions":"See README in reproducibility package.","file_name":"PP_NIC_2026_674","zip_package":"PP_NIC_2026_674.zip","dependencies":"Stata dependencies are listed in the ado folder."}],"repository_uri":[{"name":"Reproducible Research Repository (World Bank)","uri":"https:\/\/reproducibility.worldbank.org"}],"production_date":"2026-06-05","abstract":"Parenting interventions have the potential to improve early childhood development. Text messages are considered a promising channel to diffuse parenting information at low cost. This paper tests whether sending text messages about parenting practices impacts early childhood development. Households in rural Nicaragua were randomly assigned to receive messages about nutrition, health, stimulation, and the home environment. The intervention led to significant changes in self-reported parenting practices. However, it did not translate into improvements in children\u2019s cognitive development. When local opinion leaders were randomly exposed to the same text message intervention, parental investments declined and children\u2019s outcomes deteriorated. These negative effects were strongest for children of the least educated caregivers. Since interactions between parents and leaders about child development also decreased, the negative effects may have resulted from a crowding-out of efforts by local leaders.","geographic_units":[{"name":"Nicaragua","code":"NIC"}],"keywords":[{"name":"Early Childhood Development"},{"name":"Parenting"},{"name":"Textmessages"},{"name":"Behavioral Change"},{"name":"Field Experiment"}],"topics":[{"id":"H23","uri":"https:\/\/www.aeaweb.org\/econlit\/jelCodes.php?view=jel","vocabulary":"Journal of Economic Literature (JEL)","name":"Externalities \u2022 Redistributive Effects \u2022 Environmental Taxes and Subsidies","parent_id":"H2"},{"id":" I15","uri":"https:\/\/www.aeaweb.org\/econlit\/jelCodes.php?view=jel","vocabulary":"Journal of Economic Literature (JEL)","name":"Health and Economic Development","parent_id":"I1"},{"id":" J13","uri":"https:\/\/www.aeaweb.org\/econlit\/jelCodes.php?view=jel","vocabulary":"Journal of Economic Literature (JEL)","name":"Fertility \u2022 Family Planning \u2022 Child Care \u2022 Children \u2022 Youth","parent_id":"J1"},{"id":" O15","uri":"https:\/\/www.aeaweb.org\/econlit\/jelCodes.php?view=jel","vocabulary":"Journal of Economic Literature (JEL)","name":"Human Resources \u2022 Human Development \u2022 Income Distribution \u2022 Migration","parent_id":"O1"}],"output":[{"type":"Journal Article","description":"Journal Articles","title":"Texting Parents About Early Child Development: Behavioral Changes And Unintended Social Effects"}],"language":[{"name":"English","code":"EN"}],"technology_requirements":"Run time ~ 5 minutes","disclaimer":"The materials in the reproducibility packages are distributed as they were prepared by the staff of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development\/The World Bank. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this event do not necessarily reflect the views of the World Bank, the Executive Directors of the World Bank, or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the materials included in the reproducibility package.","license":[{"name":"MIT License","uri":"https:\/\/opensource.org\/license\/mit"},{"name":"World Bank IGO Rider","uri":"https:\/\/github.com\/worldbank\/metadata-editor\/blob\/main\/WB-IGO-RIDER.md"}],"contacts":[{"name":"Patrick Premand","affiliation":"World Bank","email":"ppremand@worldbank.org"},{"name":"Reproducibility WBG","affiliation":"World Bank","email":"reproducibility@worldbank.org"}],"datasets":[{"name":"Replication Data for: Texting Parents about Early Child Development","note":"Primary survey data collected by the authors in Nicaragua as technical support to the Ministry of the Family (Mifan). Survey data collected by CIERUNIC; baseline in Fall 2014 and follow-up in July\u2013August 2015, across 97 rural villages in four municipalities (Totogalpa, Telpaneca, Yalag\u00fcina, Palacag\u00fcina). Text-message and quiz log data provided by the platform operator (Cronos Ltd., mobile service via Telef\u00f3nica\/Movistar). Five files are included: final_nicaSMS.dta (endline outcomes, treatment assignment, and control variables), baseline_nica_nonames_balance.dta (baseline child, caregiver, and household characteristics), trafic_bycontent.dta (weekly quiz response counts aggregated by message content arm), trafico_aggregado.dta (message-level log of the text-messaging platform), and Assignment.dta (crosswalk linking platform device identifier to survey household identifier). All files located in data\/.","access_type":"Data is forthcoming in the World Bank Microdata Library.","citation":"Barrera-Rodr\u00edguez, O., Macours, K., Premand, P., and Vakis, R. 2026. \"Replication Data for: Texting Parents about Early Child Development\" [dataset]. Forthcoming in World Bank Microdata Library.\n"}],"reproduction_instructions":"To reproduce the findings in this paper, a replicator must:\n1. **Secure Access to Data:** Access the datasets not included in the package. See the Datasets section for more details.\n2. **Run the Package:**\n  - Open the script `master` do file, change the directory on line 55, and run it. This will install the required packages and generate all the exhibits.\n\nSince all the data is not included, the package includes the outputs produced by the authors, which can be used to review the results presented in the paper.","technology_environment":"Paper exhibits were reproduced on a computer with the following specifications:\n\u2022 OS: Windows 11 Enterprise\n\u2022 Processor: Intel(R) Xeon(R) Gold 5218 CPU @ 2.30GHz (2.30 GHz) (2 processors)\n\u2022 Memory available: 16 GB\n"},"datacite":{"creators":[{"givenName":"Patrick","familyName":"Premand","nameType":"Personal","affiliation":[{"name":"World Bank","affiliationIdentifier":"https:\/\/ror.org\/00ae7jd04","affiliationIdentifierScheme":"ROR","schemeUri":"https:\/\/ror.org"}]},{"givenName":"Oscar Barrera","familyName":"Rodriguez","nameType":"Personal","affiliation":[{"name":"University College Dublin","affiliationIdentifier":"https:\/\/ror.org\/05m7pjf47","affiliationIdentifierScheme":"ROR","schemeUri":"https:\/\/ror.org"}]},{"givenName":"Karen","familyName":"Macours","nameType":"Personal","affiliation":[{"name":"Paris School of Econmics","affiliationIdentifier":"https:\/\/ror.org\/01qtp1053","affiliationIdentifierScheme":"ROR","schemeUri":"https:\/\/ror.org"}]},{"givenName":"Renos","familyName":"Vakis","nameType":"Personal","affiliation":[{"name":"World Bank","affiliationIdentifier":"https:\/\/ror.org\/00ae7jd04","affiliationIdentifierScheme":"ROR","schemeUri":"https:\/\/ror.org"}]}],"titles":[{"lang":"en","title":"Reproducibility package for Texting Parents About Early Child Development: Behavioral Changes And Unintended Social Effects"},{"title":"PP_NIC_2026_674","titleType":"Other"}],"publisher":"World Bank","publicationYear":"2026","types":{"resourceType":"Reproducibility package","resourceTypeGeneral":"Other"},"url":"https:\/\/reproducibility.worldbank.org\/index.php\/catalog\/study\/PP_NIC_2026_674","language":"en"},"tags":[{"tag":"DOI"},{"tag":"Forthcoming Data"},{"tag":"Open Code"}],"schematype":"script"}