Cette thèse cherche à évaluer le rôle des politiques d’information dans la réduction des inégalités de capital humain.Dans le premier chapitre, co-écrit avec Bruno Crépon, nous étudions l’impact d’une expérimentation visant à augmenter le recours aux soins des jeunes chômeurs en France. Les jeunes en situation de précarité ont plus de risque de sous-investir dans leur santé, ce qui peut avoir des conséquences économiques et sociales à court et long terme. Dans cette étude, nous examinons deux barrières possibles : le coût des soins, et la mauvaise perception des besoins. A l’aide d’une expérience randomisée, nous trouvons qu’informer individuellement ces jeunes sur leurs besoins ainsi que sur le système d’assurance santé permet d’augmenter leurs investissements, en doublant notamment la probabilité de consulter un psychologue. Nos résultats suggèrent également qu’une telle intervention permet de favoriser les entrées en formation. Afin de distinguer les barrières relevant du coût des soins des barrières relevant d’une mauvaise perception des besoins, nous testons aussi une intervention dans laquelle les jeunes reçoivent uniquement l’information sur le système d’assurance santé. A la différence de l’intervention combinée, cette intervention ne permet pas d’augmenter le recours aux soins, ce qui souligne le rôle crucial des perceptions subjectives dans les décisions de santé.Dans le second chapitre, issu d’un travail avec Marc Gurgand, Nina Guyon et Marion Monnet, nous évaluons une politique consistant à orienter des enfants vivant en zones urbaines sensibles (ZUS) en France vers des structures répondant à leurs difficultés. Dans les ZUS, certains enfants ont tendance à cumuler difficultés scolaires, problèmes de santé, de socialisation, et parfois problèmes familiaux. La politique étudiée consiste à mettre en place des interventions individualisées et multidimensionnelles pour les enfants, impliquant leurs parents et leur enseignant. Ces interventions consistent par exemple à inscrire l’enfant dans un club de sport, à réaliser un bilan de santé, à offrir aux parents une assistance administrative, et reposent sur les ressources disponibles au niveau de la commune. Afin d’identifier un effet causal, nous mettons en place des méthodes d’appariement que nous combinons avec un estimateur en différence-de-différences. Nous trouvons que le dispositif n’a d’effet ni sur le comportement des enfants, ni sur leurs compétences cognitives, et un effet négatif sur la socialisation et la motivation scolaire. Il réduit en revanche l’absentéisme. Une comparaison avec d’autres dispositifs suggère qu’il est nécessaire d’intervenir dès le plus jeune âge et de manière plus intensive pour améliorer la situation de ces enfants défavorisés.Dans le troisième chapitre, j’examine dans quelle mesure les politiques d’information destinées à guider les lycéens dans la transition vers le supérieur permettent d’augmenter le recours aux bourses parmi les étudiants défavorisés au Canada. Les doutes de plus en plus nombreux quant à la capacité des politiques d’aides financières à réduire les inégalités d’accès à l’enseignement supérieur conduisent à s’interroger sur leurs conditions d’efficacité. Cette étude vise à mieux comprendre les barrières informationnelles auxquelles les étudiants sont confrontés. Sur la base d’une expérience contrôlée, je modélise la demande de bourse comme étant fonction de l’utilité perçue de l’université, qui elle-même dépend du niveau d’information des jeunes. J’utilise ensuite le modèle pour simuler différentes politiques d’information souvent mises en œuvre, mais rarement évaluées. Informer les jeunes sur le système d’aides financières s’avère particulièrement efficace. Rencontrer un conseiller scolaire ou faire un test de compétences et d’orientation permet également d’augmenter le recours aux aides. Les simulations suggèrent que de tels dispositifs pourraient égaliser la demande entre étudiants favorisés et défavorisés. / This dissertation attempts to assess the role information policies may play in the reduction of human capital inequalities.In the first chapter, which is a joint work with Bruno Crépon, we study the impact of an experiment aimed at increasing the use of healthcare services among unemployed youth in France. Economically disadvantaged youth are particularly at risk of under-investing in their health, which can have short and long term negative consequences on a variety of socioeconomic outcomes. In this study, we investigate two possible factors of under-investment: cost of healthcare, and misperception of health needs. Relying on a randomized experiment, we find that providing them with personalized information on their health needs as well as on public health insurance raises their health investments, in particular it doubles the proportion of people consulting a psychologist. Our results suggest that such policies also have a potential for increasing participation to training programs. To distinguish between financial constraints and misperception of health needs, we also test a program providing information on public health insurance only. In contrast, this limited program does not induce any health investments, which highlights the crucial role of subjective perceptions of needs in health decisions among disadvantaged youth.In the second chapter, which is based on a joint work with Marc Gurgand, Nina Guyon and Marion Monnet, we evaluate a policy that consists in directing 2 to 16 year-old children living in deprived areas in France to the local resources they need. In deprived areas, some children tend to cumulate academic difficulties with health, social and sometimes family difficulties. In this paper, we evaluate a policy consisting in individualized and comprehensive programs that involve both the child, the parents and the teacher. Interventions range from sport activities or health diagnosis for the child to administrative assistance for the parents, and use existing local resources. Our identification strategy relies on propensity score matching combined with difference-in-differences estimation. We find no impact of the policy on children behavior and cognitive skills, and on their parents’ relation to school, and negative impacts on the relation to other children and on school motivation. By contrast, school attendance increases among treated children. Comparison with other comprehensive programs suggests that more intensive or earlier interventions might be required to significantly improve the situation of deprived children.In the third chapter, I assess the extent to which information policies aimed at guiding high school students in their transition to higher education can raise the take-up of grants among disadvantaged students in Canada. Growing concerns about the capacity of grant policies to reduce the socioeconomic gap in college enrollment call to investigate the conditions required for these policies to reach their target. This paper aims at better understanding the information barriers disadvantaged students may face. Based on a lab-in-the-field experiment, I model the demand for grants as a function of the perceived utility of university, which depends on the level of information on higher education and on the labor market students have. I use the model to simulate several information policies that are commonly implemented in high schools, but rarely studied. While receiving information on the financial aid system demonstrates to be particularly effective, meeting a school counsellor or taking a skills and interests test also significantly raises the take-up of grants among disadvantaged students. Simulations suggest these policies could close the take-up gap with their more advantaged counterparts.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-05-07T15:09:17Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 1355524 bytes, checksum: 28367835bb2878ed342ed5db3ac4c776 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-07-25 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / Based on literature on gender, sex division of labor, sexist education, women s access to higher education, and the gendering of careers, this dissertation attempted to explore the implications of gender relations for the occupational/professional perspectives of female and male senior students of Liceu Paraibano, a public school in Paraiba, Brazil. It aimed to analyze whether and how gender relations condition the higher education choices of high school students. For that purpose it used both a qualitative approach, by means of questionnaire applied to 456 students, and a qualitative approach, by interviewing 20 students attending the three school shifts (morning, afternoon and evening). The questionnaire data were systematized in tables and graphics in order to characterize the students, highlighting the relationships between sex and other variables such as race /ethnicity, shift of attendance, age, socioeconomic status, occupational situation, and choice of higher education course. The interviews helped to qualify students perspectives of continuation of studies and professional training, highlighting their life projects, as well as to illuminate how gender relations cross the subjects socialization. The analysis evidenced that the gendering of higher education, which separates men (situated in technological and scientific high prestige careers) from women (situated in humanistic and health care low prestige careers), persists in these students higher education course choices, even though some changes were noticed. The intersection of sex, race /color, and shift of school attendance also showed inequalities in students aspirations. Moreover, the analysis pointed out that the naturalization of social relations and gender prejudices were present within family and school relations, creating obstacles for the deconstruction of gender dichotomies and female segregation in devalued occupations/professions / Baseada em literatura que discute as temáticas de gênero, divisão sexual do trabalho, educação sexista, acesso das mulheres a educação superior e gendramento de carreiras, esta dissertação buscou conhecer as implicações das relações de gênero nas perspectivas ocupacionais/profissionais das alunas e dos alunos do terceiro ano do ensino médio do Liceu Paraibano, escola pública do estado da Paraíba. Objetivou analisar se e como as relações de gênero condicionam as escolhas de cursos superiores de estudantes do ensino médio. Para tanto utilizou tanto a abordagem quantitativa através da aplicação de questionários a 456 estudantes, quanto a abordagem qualitativa através da realização de entrevistas com 20 estudantes, abrangendo os três turnos (manhã, tarde e noite). Os dados dos questionários foram sistematizados em tabelas e gráficos para caracterizar os/as estudantes destacando as relações entre sexo e outras variáveis como raça /cor, turno, faixa etária, situação socioeconômica, situação ocupacional e suas escolhas de cursos superiores. As entrevistas serviram para qualificar as perspectivas de continuidade de estudos e inserção profissional do alunado, destacando seus projetos de vida, bem como para visibilizar como as relações de gênero atravessaram a socialização dos sujeitos. A análise evidenciou que o gendramento da educação superior, que separa homens em carreiras tecnológicas e científicas de alto prestígio e mulheres em carreiras humanísticas e da saúde (de baixo prestígio) ligadas ao cuidado, persiste nas escolhas de cursos superiores dos/as jovens, ainda que sejam notadas algumas mudanças. A intersecção da variável sexo com raça /cor e com turno de estudo também possibilitou verificar desigualdades nas aspirações dos/as estudantes. Além disso, analisou-se que a naturalização das relações sociais e o preconceito de gênero estão presentes nas relações familiares e escolares criando obstáculos para a desconstrução das dicotomias de gênero e da segregação feminina em ocupações/profissões menos valorizadas

Several studies shows that the dominant norms of masculinity are a hinder for boys to perform in school and a hinder for men to choose female-dominated occupations. Moreover, selecting a career can be a complex decision for young adult men´s to choose a female-dominated higher education - and this dilemma has been a topic of much reports and research. However, there is still a lack of understanding regarding the influence of social capital on young people as they transition to higher education. Not many studies have been made on the male student´s experience of the impact of social capital on their gender-breaking higher education choices.Therefore the aim of this study is to understand which social capital and social network relations are of importance to young male students´ gender-breaking higher education choices. Furthermore, this study aims to examine the conditions that have broadened the informants' motive to choose a higher education.A qualitative method with semi-structured interviews was used to answer the purpose of this essay and the method of choice for analysis were social networks analysis of ego-net, which is a method on studying social relations. The result is being analyzed by using a conceptional model based on Lent el. al (1994) Social Cognitive Careers Theory, Pierre Bourdieu’s (1986) Theory of social capital and Ego-net (Crossley et. al 2015).The results of this study show that social background and gender have a limited significance in relation to the informants' gender-breaking choice of higher education and career path. There are various motives that have encouraged and motivated the informants' gender-breaking choices. Three different motives appears that has affected their gender-breaking educational and professional choices; (I) Making a difference (II) Security in working-life and (III) Skills and knowledge seeking. These motives challenge notions of gender as well as other aspects of an “ideal” job and career for men.The study concludes that the informants' gender-breaking higher education choices have been preceded by a process of different types of events in the transition to working life, as well as connections and networking with other individuals in the adult life who have influenced their career and decision-making. It is found that social capital and heterogeneous network has a significant role for the informant’ gender-breaking education and careers choices - e.g. male role models, inspirers such as professionals in primay and secondary education and colleagues in the world of work, who have contributed to changing their stereotypical notions of female-dominated professions, new preferences and altruistic goals such as helping others, themselves and their future.