<mark>Across Sections 4 and 5, we focus on three types of outcomes: those related to economic development, intrapersonal psychosocial processes, and relational psychosocial processes. Economic development outcomes include consumption (a proxy for poverty), food security, and women’s business outcomes. Intrapersonal psychosocial outcomes include beliefs about the self (e.g., self-efficacy), about one’s future (e.g.,</mark> positive future expectations for mobility), and psychological well-being (e.g., life satisfaction, depressive symptoms), which we situate as intrapersonal resources for goal pursuit. Relational psychosocial outcomes include social capital (e.g., social support, financial support, participation in community organizations), social influence (e.g., social standing, control over business decision-making), and social norms, which we situate as relational affordances for goal pursuit. All of these outcomes were measured in the policy experiment sample while a subset was measured in the mechanism experiment sample given timing constraints.

<mark>Further details on experimental design and outcome measures are provided in the Methods section in the Appendix.</mark>

# **<mark>3. Study 1: Descriptive Findings on Agency in Context</mark>**

The formative research phase aimed to understand women’s models of economic agency in rural Niger. In particular, we explored which factors women viewed as motivational, socially valued, and effective for advancing their economic mobility. We also sought to build ‘interpretive power’ around these models of agency, i.e., to understand them in relation to the affordances and constraints of the socioeconomic and cultural context (Brady et al., 2018).

First, in the baseline survey of the policy experiment, we found that, as is common in collectivist societies, behavioral interdependence was broadly practiced and valued. In survey responses, 90% of women agreed or strongly agreed that “when making a decision, it is important to take into account the opinions of other members of your community,” 79% agreed or strongly agreed that “it is your duty to take care of others in your village even if you must sacrifice yourself,” and 89% reported they do what their husbands say with their money rather than doing what they alone want. According to additional data collected among the Study 3 control group, 86% of the respondents reported that they preferred for households in the village to develop together versus independently ( χ<sup>2</sup> (1, _N=_ 1,215)= 612.98, _p<_ .001).

Second, these interdependent tendencies were not only practiced and valued but also seen as ontologically useful and effective in this context. In order to understand beliefs about women’s economic agency in particular, we asked women to rank the importance of different psychosocial factors as drivers of and barriers to women’s economic success. In each of these questions, we asked participants to rank four factors—two of which related to intrapersonal processes and two to relational. Intrapersonal factors included personal initiative, hard work, persistence, and planning for the future, which are commonly reflected in Western goal setting and self-regulation interventions and other entrepreneurial programs (Campos et al., 2017; Frese & Fay, 2001; Oettingen & Gollwitzer, 2010). The relational factors were derived from our formative qualitative interviews and included social harmony, peacefulness,<sup>6</sup> respect of others, and good social connections. Responses were collected among the control group of the policy experiment in a follow-up survey (N=1,216). We independently collected predictions from a U.S. sample as a point of cultural comparison (N=302).

> 6 Formative qualitative suggested that ‘peaceful’ refers both to personal inner peace and to social harmony, given their inevitable interconnectedness in this context. Other research in West Africa similarly finds that ‘peace of mind’ is ‘ <mark>a signal that one has met social expectations’ (Osei-Tutu et al., 2020).</mark>

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