Civic Education Through Participatory Budgeting: A Field Experiment

• In Event: Evaluating Pedagogies for Civic Literacy and Engagement

Abstract

Participatory budgeting (PB) is a process whereby members of an organization decide how to spend part or all of a public budget. In this study, I use a cluster randomized control trial to examine the effect of participating in PB on high school students’ sense of personal political efficacy and their intention to participate in politics. Because New York City recently voted to implement PB in schools across the city (though not all at once), I am able to compare the survey responses from students at schools that have implemented PB (the treatment group) to the survey responses of students at schools that nave not yet been scheduled to implement PB (the control group). Pilot study results are presented.

Author

• Amir Shawn Fairdosi, Yale University