Table 9: Quiz and knowledge scores

||Planter rubber<br>quiz score (4Qs -<br>PT)|Planter rubber<br>knowledge<br>score (5Qs -<br>ANCOVA)|Planter perception<br>of spouse<br>knowledge (PT)|<br>Planter perception of<br>spouse knowledge<br>(EL)|<br>Planter perception<br>of spouse<br>knowledge with PT<br>obs. (EL)|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|Seedling Subsidy||0.05<br>(0.07)||0.08<br>(0.10)||
|Couples' Training|-0.07|-0.02|0.52***|0.07|-0.12|
||(0.10)|(0.08)|(0.17)|(0.11)|(0.13)|
|Seedling Subsidy + Couples'<br>Training (beta)||0.03||0.15||
|H0: Seedling Subsidy +<br>Couples' Training = 0 (p-val)||0.72||0.13||
|Observations|597|1408|578|1187|502|
|Mean for control group||1.87||2.42||
|Mean for individual training|2.85|1.92|3.10|2.47|2.67|

Robust and clustered standard errors in parentheses. * p<0.1 ** p<0.05 *** p<0.01 Note: PT stands for post-treatment, EL stands for endline. Post-treatment regressions (PT) exclude individuals who did not take part in the training. Planter perception of spouse knowledge is measured on a scale [1;5], 5 meaning the highest perceived knowledge. Baseline control variables in all regressions: Age of household head, Household size, Number of adults, Number of children, Dependency ratio, Married planter, Polygamous relationship, Matrilineal ethnicity, Planter has IGA, Asset index, Credit constrained, Share of plots owned, Average distance to plots (minutes), Number of plots, Average plot size.

Table 9 provides some insight, showing the results of agricultural knowledge quizzes administered to producers. These quizzes covered key concepts taught in the training and important for rubber cultivation and productivity.<sup>7</sup> While we are not powered to report changes in the spouse’s knowledge directly (only 220 spouses took the agricultural knowledge quiz during the training, and even fewer at endline) we examine whether the planter himself increased his knowledge by learning together with his spouse, or whether he perceived his spouse as having increased her agricultural knowledge.<sup>8</sup> Note that the planter’s perception is significantly associated with spouse’s actual knowledge: the correlation between the two is 0.28, with a p-value of 0.0001, in the sample of 220 spouses who did take the knowledge quiz (results available upon request).

In column 1 we can see that planters in the couples’ group do not show higher knowledge than the individual group immediately following the training. Column 2 shows that neither individual planters nor couples’ group planters show significantly higher knowledge than the control group. Couples’ planters perceive their spouse to have higher knowledge immediately following the training (column 3) but this fades completely by endline (column 4). Taken together, these results suggest that increased knowledge is not a mechanism for the production changes we observe.

7 Questions included the ideal spacing between rubber trees during planting, where to apply fertilizer to trees after the first three years and which crops are suitable for intercropping with rubber.

8 The question asked the planter to assess his spouse’s knowledge of best practices for rubber cultivation from 1 (‘Very poor’) to 5 (‘Very good’).

2