Economic Education in an Authoritarian Regime

Last registered on August 30, 2017
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Economic Education in an Authoritarian Regime
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0002405
Initial registration date
August 30, 2017

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
August 30, 2017, 2:06 PM EDT

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

Locations

Country
Zimbabwe
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Natalie Carlson
Affiliation
COLUMBIA UNIV
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Anselm Rink
PI Affiliation
Columbia University
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2016-09-01
End date
2018-03-01
Keywords
Education, Finance & Microfinance
Additional Keywords
Entrepreneurship
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Abstract
Can employment and entrepreneurship in poorly developed nations be fostered using educational training programs? Do such programs foster the psychological well-being of participants? And, finally, does an increase in employment and entrepreneurship change the willingness of individuals to voice political dissent in an authoritarian regime? We approach these questions by evaluating a large-scale educational youth employment program implemented by the International Youth Foundation (IYF) in Zimbabwe.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Carlson, Natalie and Anselm Rink. 2017. "Economic Education in an Authoritarian Regime." AEA RCT Registry. August 30. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.2405-1.0
Former Citation
Carlson, Natalie and Anselm Rink. 2017. "Economic Education in an Authoritarian Regime." AEA RCT Registry. August 30. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/2405/history/20997
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2016-10-01
Intervention End Date
2017-03-01

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Economic employment, psychological well-being, and political activism (details of the outcome instruction included in the pre-analysis plan)
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The present study takes place in four districts of Zimbabwe: two urban regions (Harare and Bulawayo) and one rural regions (Lupane). Modality 1a and 1b will take place in all three regions, while Modality 3 will only take place in the urban regions, Harare and Bulawayo (for more details on these modalities, please see the pre-analysis plan). Beneficiaries to all three modalities were recruited by the implementing partners (IP) in October 2015. The IPs recruited participants through local networks, advertisements and word-of-mouth. Given that all IPs have worked in their respective neighborhoods for years, no specific recruitment problems were foreseen.

Lists of potential participants were provided to the researchers by the IPs in the Fall of 2016 before the different modalities were to begin. Modalities 1a, 1b and 3 were to enroll 800 participants each. In each modality, individuals were then randomly assigned to receive the program (treatment) or not (control). We used block-randomization, blocking on age and gender—the only two covariates available at the time of randomization.

Before commencing the program, IYF conducted a baseline survey with all individuals either assigned to treatment or control. The survey was implemented in the months of December through February. The survey was administered by a professional survey firm (NEDICO). Of the overall enrolled 2,400 individuals, the survey team managed to reach 2,163.

The endline survey is scheduled to take place 6 months after the intervention was concluded. The current plan is to conduct the endline in October 2017. The endline will administer the same survey instrument as was implemented during the baseline.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Computer-based randomization (R)
Randomization Unit
Individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
2400
Sample size: planned number of observations
2400
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
Modality 1a: 400 treatment, 400 control
Modality 1b: 400 treatment, 400 control
Modality 3: 400 treatment, 400 control
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
IRB Approval Date
IRB Approval Number
Analysis Plan

Analysis Plan Documents

Pre-Analysis Plan

MD5: fa0626457015b49ce571d9828888fc04

SHA1: e54b1a60d09bd7decb8ce17d109be4a8bd7047c5

Uploaded At: August 30, 2017

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