Does Publicizing a Tax Credit for Political Contributions Increase Its Use? Results From a Randomized Field Experiment

Last registered on March 20, 2016

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Does Publicizing a Tax Credit for Political Contributions Increase Its Use? Results From a Randomized Field Experiment
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0001098
Initial registration date
March 20, 2016

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
March 20, 2016, 10:50 AM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
Campaign Finance Institute

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Affiliation
Columbia University
PI Affiliation
Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2002-07-01
End date
2003-01-28
Secondary IDs
Abstract
We present the results of an experiment using nonpartisan, informational direct mail—of the sort that a public relations–conscious government agency might use—to encourage Ohio voters to contribute money to political candidates. Ohio provides full tax credits of up to $50 to citizens who make contributions to state candidates. We found that the mailing produced a modest and marginally significant increase in the number of citizens who filed for the tax credit. This is consistent with earlier survey research findings by two of the authors suggesting that increased knowledge of the tax credit would be likely to increase its use. The experiment suggests that nonpartisan direct mail campaigns might not be the most cost-effective means for encouraging increased contributions. However, even a modest increase in participation could have important effects, given the small size of the current donor pool.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Boatright, Robert G., Donald P. Green and Michael Malbin. 2016. "Does Publicizing a Tax Credit for Political Contributions Increase Its Use? Results From a Randomized Field Experiment." AEA RCT Registry. March 20. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.1098-1.0
Former Citation
Boatright, Robert G., Donald P. Green and Michael Malbin. 2016. "Does Publicizing a Tax Credit for Political Contributions Increase Its Use? Results From a Randomized Field Experiment." AEA RCT Registry. March 20. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/1098/history/7339
Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
During the 2002 election cycle, registered voters in treatment nine-digit zip codes received three mailings during the month before the election. The mailings described the credit and listed which elections had eligible candidates. In order to remain nonpartisan, they did not mention candidates’ names or explicitly ask for contributions. A fourth mailing was sent in January, at the beginning of the tax filing season, to remind filers to claim the credit.
Intervention Start Date
2002-10-03
Intervention End Date
2003-01-28

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
How many of the treatment and control groups file for the tax credit.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
Following the filing of 2002 taxes, the Ohio Department of Taxation provided data on the number of tax filers in each of the sample nine-digit zip codes and how many of those took the election contribution tax credit for 2002 and 2000. This allows comparison of 2002 filings of the treatment to the control group, and also measurement of change within each group between 2000 and 2002. Individual-level outcome data was not provided to protect privacy.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The researchers obtained 11,000 nine-digit zip codes from the Ohio Department of Taxation and randomly allocated 1,000 to treatment and 10,000 to control. Of these, some zip-codes were found to have no registered voters thus reducing treatment group to 837 and control group to 9,072 zip-codes respectively. Treatment group received a series of mailings before and after the federal election cycle while the control group received nothing. The total number of voters who received the mailing was 3,392.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
The Ohio Secretary of State's office gave CFI a list of all nine-digit zip codes along with the number of tax filers in each. All zip codes that had no filers were removed, and then a random number generator was used to select a treatment and control group. After completing the study, the treatment and control group were verified not to be significantly different according to average income or other demographic characteristics.
Randomization Unit
Nine-digit zip codes in Ohio.
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
11,000 zip-code regions
Sample size: planned number of observations
9,909 zip-codes
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
Treatment: 837 zip codes
Control: 9,072 zip codes
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
The approximate MDE is e^(.143*2.8) - 1 = 49% increase in zip code level counts. We find a 31% increase.
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
IRB Approval Date
IRB Approval Number

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
Yes
Intervention Completion Date
January 28, 2003, 12:00 +00:00
Data Collection Complete
Yes
Data Collection Completion Date
January 28, 2003, 12:00 +00:00
Final Sample Size: Number of Clusters (Unit of Randomization)
9,909 zip-codes
Was attrition correlated with treatment status?
Final Sample Size: Total Number of Observations
9,909 zip-codes
Final Sample Size (or Number of Clusters) by Treatment Arms
Treatment: 837 zip codes Control: 9,072 zip codes
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
Yes

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Abstract
DOES PUBLICIZING A TAX CREDIT FOR POLITICAL CONTRIBUTIONS INCREASE ITS USE? RESULTS FROM A RANDOMIZED FIELD EXPERIMENT

We present the results of an experiment using nonpartisan, informational direct mail—of the sort that a public relations–conscious government agency might use—to encourage Ohio voters to contribute money to political candidates. Ohio provides full tax credits of up to $50 to citizens who make contributions to state candidates. We found that the mailing produced a modest and marginally significant increase in the number of citizens who filed for the tax credit. This is consistent with earlier survey research findings by two of the authors suggesting that increased knowledge of the tax credit would be likely to increase its use. The experiment suggests that direct mail campaigns might not be the most cost-effective means for encouraging increased contributions. However, even a modest increase in participation could have important effects, given the small size of the current donor pool.
Citation
Robert G. Boatright, Donald P. Green, and Michael J. Malbin. 2006. "Does Publicizing a Tax Credit for Political Contributions Increase Its Use?: Results From a Randomized Field Experiment." American Politics Research 34(5): 563-582.

Reports & Other Materials