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Information and accountability elected leaders and firms related to extractive industries

Last registered on April 29, 2016

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Information and accountability elected leaders and firms related to extractive industries
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0001198
Initial registration date
April 29, 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
April 29, 2016, 3:15 PM EDT

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

Locations

Region

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
New York University

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2016-03-21
End date
2016-09-26
Secondary IDs
Abstract
Extractive industries represent a major part of the local economy in many rural parts of Peru. Royalties and tax revenues from extractive industries are, by law, in part returned by the central government to the local areas where the mines are located under a program called the Mining/Oil Canon. Many low-capacity rural municipalities are not able to spend all the funds they are due, and the funds they do receive are often distributed through patronage and graft. Although information regarding mining/oil funds is publicly available, there is a general perception among civil society actors in Peru that the public is not well informed about accountability issues.
Given that a major barrier to accountability appears to be access of information, as part of this research study an information treatment will be implemented to test its impact on attitudes towards political incumbents and extractive firms as well as citizens’ participation in accountability processes such as public meetings of accountability (roughly translated as “asambleas de rendición de cuentas”) and mayoral recalls.
Through informative workshops implemented in 40 communities across 9 districts in the administrative department of Piura, the objective of this study is to answer two questions: 1) How does access to information about the distribution of mining royalties affect attitudes and accountability towards political incumbents, mining/petrol firms and the central government, and 2) how to does this information affect participation in district meetings regarding budgeting and execution of mining/oil canon spending?
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Sexton, Renard. 2016. "Information and accountability elected leaders and firms related to extractive industries." AEA RCT Registry. April 29. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.1198-1.0
Former Citation
Sexton, Renard. 2016. "Information and accountability elected leaders and firms related to extractive industries." AEA RCT Registry. April 29. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/1198/history/8027
Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
In partnership with a local NGO with experience in the field, information to community members will be delivered through an informative workshop in 40 communities, randomly selected, in the administrative department of Piura. One workshop will be implemented in each treatment community. The workshop will cover information that is publicly available but often difficult to access by communities due to a lack of Internet connection or knowledge of how to locate and read highly technical reports. The topics covered in the workshops include basic concepts of mining and petrol canon, its distribution, the scheme of participatory budgeting, democratic practices and accountability mechanisms such as the recall process and public accountability assemblies.
Intervention Start Date
2016-05-02
Intervention End Date
2016-08-15

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
-Perceptions, attitudes and accountability of community members towards political incumbents, mining/oil firms and the central government
-Participation in meetings regarding participatory budgeting and public accountability meetings
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The intervention consists of an information treatment that will be given to treatment communities. Communities across 9 districts in Piura will be randomized into the treatment and control group. The treatment communities will receive the informative workshop that will cover topics related to the functioning of their local government, oil canon transfers, the scheme of participatory budgeting and other accountability mechanisms and democratic practices.
To standardize the treatment, a video containing information on all topics, will be screened in the treatment communities.
Also, there will be an endline survey that will cover 7 people in each community. The survey contains questions regarding self-reported participation in community meetings and participatory budgeting scheme as well as community members' perceptions about their local leaders, petrol firms and central government. Whenever possible, administrative data collected by municipalities on participation in community meetings will be gathered.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomization done in office by a computer
Randomization Unit
Communities within districts
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
80 communities
Sample size: planned number of observations
560 people (7 people per community)
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
40 communities workshop (treatment) and 40 communities control
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Human Subjects Committee for Innovations for Poverty Action IRB-USA
IRB Approval Date
2016-02-26
IRB Approval Number
13696
Analysis Plan

Analysis Plan Documents

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials