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.

This study aimed to establish a connection, if any, between perceptions of information disclosure about medical treatment and decisional conflict in bereaved parents of children with cancer. Decisional regret was an important theme in this exploration because decisional conflict strongly aligns with the propensity to mentally redo past events, thereby forming counterfactual alternatives to reality. People generate counterfactuals to hypothesize a more favorable outcome subsequent to a negative event or the death of a child as applicable to this study. A secondary objective was to investigate the potential influence of counterfactual processing and regret on the construct of self-acceptance: a phenomenon researchers have rarely studied in the population of interest. Study participants included parents who lost a child to cancer in the United States after participating in medical treatment prescribed by a licensed oncologist. Cluster and convenience sampling were employed to recruit 92 participants. Quantitative methods were used in obtaining data samples through validated instruments for each independent and dependent variable. The responses collected indicate that a perceived lack of information disclosure about treatment risks and efficacy, yield a positive influence on decisional conflict after the death of a child. Similarly, decisional conflict positively correlates with decisional regret, while the latter negatively correlates with self acceptance in the bereavement process. The research implications call for additional studies that further isolate factors that contribute to decisional conflict. This study advocates for decision making tools and collaborative processes that ensure parents are well informed and involved in making medical decisions from diagnosis through palliative care, if a cure is not possible.

Studiens syfte är att analysera och öka förståelsen för hur svenska bostadsköpare, utöver behov och nytta, resonerar kring val av bostad utifrån ett prestige- och statusbehov med fokus på lyx. Studien har ett deduktivt synsätt med en kvantitativ metod i form av en enkätstudie. Enkäten skickades ut via sociala medier vilket gör det svårt att avgöra det totala urvalet. Författarnas uppskattade bedömning på 675 612 potentiella respondenter, resulterade i 1294 enkätsvar. Därefter analyserades och redovisades datan genom nätverksanalys i statistikprogrammet JASP. Där tillämpades funktionerna: “Network plot”, “Centrality plot” och “Clustering plot” samt “Weight Matrix” som visar exakt vikt på de olika sambanden. Studien visar på ett samband mellan svenska bostadsköpares personlighetsdrag och preferenser på bostadsmarknaden. Detta då bostäder av hög kvalitet och hållbarhet samt ytligt lyxiga bostäder är viktigt för alla bostadsköpare förutom neurotiska. För bostadsköpare med personlighetsdragen Openness to Experience och Agreeableness är det dock kvinnliga bostadsköpare som värdesätter bostäder med ett lyxigt yttre. Neurotiska individer gillar däremot att imitera andras bostäder. Detta gäller dock främst neurotiska kvinnor som uppskattar och strävar efter att deras egen bostad ska efterlikna bostäder som ägs av människor de jämför sig med. Dessutom kan ett bostadsköp ske i syfte att tillfredsställa status- och prestigebehov. Detta gäller främst för män med höga värden av Agreeableness och individer med höga värden av Neuroticism, även där främst män. Denna studie kan fördjupas ytterligare genom att betrakta lyx på bostadsmarknaden utifrån ett åldersperspektiv eller en specifik stad i Sverige. Alternativt genom att fokusera på varför bostadskonsumenter tycker som de gör sett till preferenser på bostadsmarknaden. Studien bidrar till att mäklarbranschen kan använda resultaten på spekulanter och kunder som ett verktyg för att effektivisera vid behovsanalys. / The purpose of the study is to analyze and increase the understanding of how Swedish home buyers, in addition to needs and benefits, reason about choosing a home based on a prestige and status need with a focus on luxury. The study has applied a deductive approach with a quantitative method in the form of a questionnaire study. The questionnaire was sent out via social media and it is thus difficult to determine the total sample. The authors make their own assessment and of 675,612 potential respondents, 1294 answered the survey. The data were then analyzed by network analysis in the JASP statistics program. Reporting and analysis of the data took place via a network analysis. The functions were applied there: “Network plot”, “Centrality plot” and “Clustering plot” as well as “Weight Matrix” which shows the exact weight of the different relationships. The study shows a connection between Swedish home buyers' personality traits and preferences in the housing market. This is because homes of high quality and durability as well as superficially luxurious homes are important for all home buyers except neurotic ones. For home buyers with personality traits Openness to Experience and Agreeableness, however, it is female home buyers who value homes with a luxurious exterior. Neurotic individuals, on the other hand, like to imitate other people's homes. However, this mainly applies to neurotic women who appreciate and strive for their own home to imitate homes owned by people they compare themselves with. In addition, a home purchase can be made in order to satisfy status and prestige needs. This is especially true for men with high values of Agreeableness and individuals with high values of Neuroticism, even there mainly men. This study can be further deepened by looking at luxury in the housing market from an age perspective or a specific city in Sweden. Alternatively, by focusing on why home consumers think as they do in terms of preferences in the housing market. The study helps the brokerage industry to use the results on speculators and customers as a tool to streamline needs analysis.

This thesis focuses on the food environment of Masiphumelele and seeks to understand how mixed-method approaches could be employed to facilitate an advanced understanding of food access in Masiphumelele. Masiphumelele was chosen as the case study for this research project as this work is sponsored by the IDRC-funded Nourishing Spaces project, which works in Masiphumelele. Based on the food-environment framework, this thesis embarked on the valuation of food environment literature to establish the interconnections between the four pillars of food security, food environments, and food systems in the urban context. The findings of this study endorse other work on food environments that issues of access should not only be understood through the physical and socioeconomic lens but also consider related social aspects that shape, enable or constrain food choices and behaviours in urban contexts. The findings of this thesis underscore the need for the reconceptualization of food environments beyond the simplistic physical and economic access framings which dominate earlier food environment work characterized by food deserts. Following the assessment of existing literature on food security, the discourse revealed that adopting the mixed-method approach that integrates participatory and retail mapping is an applicable conceptual framework for exposing socio-spatial dynamics influencing food utilization and food accessibility in the urban context. Building on the growing scholarly and policy interest of mixed methods approaches this thesis endeavours to establish the significance of the mixed-method approach in facilitating an improved understanding of food access in Masiphumelele.

This is the result of a 10 week long study about if player behaviors and choices are affectedby the surrounding colors in their environment. A number of players are asked to movethrough a virtual environment, while being clocked, where they have to make left and rightdecisions based on different colors (red, green, blue and gray). While most choices consist oftwo different colors, some use the same color. The result shows that the players most likelyprefer one color over another, and that they most likely prefer a non-neutral color over aneutral color. With these results and the interviews that are conducted the conclusion is madethat it is very likely the players choices are affected by the colors in the environment, but it isnot clear to say how they are affected. / Det här är resultatet av en 10 veckor lång studie om spelares beteenden och om deras valpåverkas av färgerna i deras omgivning. Ett antal personer är tillfrågade att röra sig genom envirtuell miljö, på tid, där de gör höger- och vänsterval baserat på olika färger (röd, grön, blåoch grå). Medan de flesta av valen består av två olika färger så använder några samma färger.Resultatet visar att personerna troligen föredrar en färg framför en annan och att de troligtvisföredrar en icke-neutral färg framför en neutral färg. Med dessa resultat och de intervjuer somgjordes så blir slutsatsen att det är stor sannolikhet att personerna påverkas av färgerna i derasomgivning, men det är svårt att säga exakt hur de påverkas.

Facing the growing prevalence of type 2 diabetes (T2D), the development of nutritionalinterventions allowing not only optimal glycemic control but also promoting postprandial satietyand overall satisfaction constitutes an interesting therapeutic avenue. This study was carried outin two parts, with the first part informing the second one.The first part was conducted in 61 middle-aged adults with or without prediabetes orT2D and aimed to assess the influences of gender/sex and health status on the relative rankingof the importance of eight common determinants of food choices as well as the sensoryevaluation and the frequency of consumption of almonds, pistachios, avocados, oatmeal, andeggs. Data analysis showed that 1) participants perceived “taste and own food preferences” ashaving the greatest influence on their food choices, 2) women attributed more importance to their“own food-related health beliefs” (p=0.040), while men reported a higher influence of the“recommendations of a health professional” (p=0.065), 3) almonds’ and pistachios’ taste wasrated the highest, and 4) taste ratings of pistachios (β=0.323, p=0.018) and avocados (β=0.604,p<0.001) were positively associated with their frequency of consumption by participants.Based on the sensory evaluation of the five foods, almonds were included in the testmeal of the second part of this study. The latter was conducted in 7 middle-aged men with T2Dand aimed to assess the effects of the types of macronutrient subtypes contained in isocaloricmacronutrient-matched meals on the postprandial glycemic, hormonal (insulin and glucagon-likepeptide-1 (GLP-1)) and appetite responses. The control meal contained white bread, butter andcheese, and the test meal contained white bread and almonds. Data analysis showed that thetest meal was associated with 1) lower postprandial glycemia (p=0.014), 2) higher postprandialGLP-1 serum concentrations (p=0.044) as well as 3) decreased hunger (p=0.032) and increasedfullness (p=0.014). There were no meal-associated differences in postprandial serum insulinconcentrations.Results highlight the importance of taste and food preferences and point out somegender/sex-related differences in the determinants of food choices. They also support thebeneficial effects of almonds, a food that seemed well appreciated by men and women, on keytherapeutic targets of T2D management.

This study sought to uncover how the annual Florida School Report Card influences secondary English Language Arts (ELA) teachers’ self-efficacy and perceptions of student writing. The study’s findings suggested that ELA teachers’ self-efficacy may be indirectly influenced by the School Report Card. The participants in this study suggested that they do not feel totally capable of applying the information learned from the School Report Card to their own classrooms. The teachers who participated in the study also reported that they have low outcome expectations when interacting with the School Report Card. They do not believe that their actions can influence the School Report Card, and suggested that they see the school grade as a moving target with changing rules they may not be able to keep up with. The School Report Card was not suggested to directly impact the participants’ perceptions of student writing. Instead, the data suggested that a variety of internal and external factors influence the way teachers perceive their students’ writing quality. Finally, most of the participants suggested that they view the school grade as an unfair measure of achievement, and a tool that does not take into account the quality of the learning in the school and represents the school poorly. Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) was used to situate these findings and gain a better understanding of how the School Report Card functions as a tool for teachers and administrators.

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Syfte: Studien syftar till att öka förståelse för hur reformen Hälsoval Skåne har påverkat såväl offentliga vårdenheter som privata aktörer och härigenom lyfta fram olika problematiska aspekter som upplevts.Metod: Kvalitativ metod, fallstudie.Empirisk analys: Studien visar bland annat på att det krävs en överrensstämmelse mellan de interna och externa faktorerna. Studien visar även att företagen inte kan forma sin strategi fritt utan att vissa faktorer måste tas i beaktande vilket går i linje med strategic fit och the design school. Vidare har även ett first mover advantage identifierats vilket i sin tur skapat barriärer likt de Porter beskriver i How competetive forces shape strategy. Ekonomiska aspekter har även identifierats vilka är av stor vikt för att överleva i hälsovalet men även olikheter beträffande konkurrenssituationen visar sin inverkan.Slutsatser: De aspekter som bland annat kan tänkas vara avgörande är företagets ekonomiska styrka samt omfattning av annan vårdverksamhet. Vidare visade det sig att uppstarten av Hälosval Skåne gav upphov till fördelar för de aktörer som var med från början. / Purpose: The purpose of the study is to increase the understanding of how the reform Hälsoval Skåne has affected public health care as well as private enterprises, and thereby highlight related problemsMethodology: Qualitative Research Methodology, Case Study.Empirical analysis: The study demonstrates the need to account for and correlate both internal and external factors. The study also demonstrates that organizations are unable to freely formulate their strategy since certain factors must be adhered to, in accordance with Strategic Fit and The Design School. Furthermore, a first-mover advantage was identified, creating barriers like those described by Porter in How Competitive Forces Shape Strategy. Also, economic considerations of great importance for survival in the choice of health services have been identified along with evidence of conditions altering depending on the competitive situation.Conclusions: Some possibly critical factors are the financial strength of the organization/enterprise, and the extension of other health care services. Moreover, being among the first initiates proved beneficial for participants in the reform Hälsoval Skåne.