Publicly targeting group identities impacts take-up of educational opportunities

I investigate the unintended effects of publicly informing individuals that their selection for a beneficial opportunity, an international training programme, is based on their group identity. In a natural field experiment with a Colombian university, I target 4, 831 students and disclose to some that selection is based on demographics. Public identity disclosure reduced take-up by 27% and completion by 20% relative to a condition in which eligibility criteria were concealed. Three complementary online experiments with 1, 113 students suggest that identity-based selection raises image concerns, which discourage programme participation. The results highlight that the way institutions communicate beneficial opportunities can itself become a barrier to take-up.