Temperature, Incentives, Productivity and Cognitive Performance

Last registered on March 14, 2018

View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

Temperature, Incentives, Productivity and Cognitive Performance

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0002778

Initial registration date

March 12, 2018

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 14, 2018, 4:27 PM EDT

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

Locations

Country

Indonesia

Region

Primary Investigator

Name

Teevrat Garg

Affiliation

UCSD

Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name

Yuta Masuda

PI Affiliation

The Nature Conservancy

Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status

Completed

Start date

2017-09-27

End date

2017-11-04

Keywords

Environment & Energy

Additional Keywords

temperature, productivity, piece-rate wages, cognitive assessment

JEL code(s)

Secondary IDs

Abstract

In this experiment, we seek to understand the effects of temperature on productivity and cognitive effects under different piece-rate wage regimes in rural forest dwelling communities in Indonesia. The objective of this study is to (1) understand how ambient temperature affects core body temperature and subsequently productivity, (2) examine how incentives affect that relationship, and (3) test the cognitive impacts of the temperature, incentive, and environment relationship. Participants were asked to conduct a repetitive, generalizable task for 90 minutes while wearing a variety of sensors that measured their movement, heart rate, and core body temperatures. A separate set of sensors also collected objective data on environmental conditions (e.g., relative humidity, Heat Index/Humidex, wet bulb and globe temperature, dry bulb temperature). Participants are assigned to one of four conditions from a 2x2 factorial design. The two factors are the activity setting (open area vs. forested area) and the incentive type (standard pay vs. high pay [two times standard pay]). We answer (1) by using minute by minute variation in environmental conditions and core body temperature and its impact on productivity (and breaks). For questions (2) and (3) we will employ a 2x2 factorial design. This trial is being registered after the completion of the study but before the investigators have had any access to the data.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Garg, Teevrat and Yuta Masuda. 2018. "Temperature, Incentives, Productivity and Cognitive Performance." AEA RCT Registry. March 14. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.2778-1.0

Former Citation

Garg, Teevrat and Yuta Masuda. 2018. "Temperature, Incentives, Productivity and Cognitive Performance." AEA RCT Registry. March 14. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/2778/history/26607

Sponsors & Partners

Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

We use a 2x2 factorial design where tasks are completed in forested and non-forested areas with low and high incentives, generating four separate groups. We sample a random subset of households in each village in our study area. There are two treatments - a) assignment to low (forested) and high (non-forested) temperature settings and b) piece-wise wage incentives - baseline and a higher incentive (twice the baseline). The first treatment is randomized at the village-day level where the sample from each village is divided between low and high temperature settings. The second treatment is randomized at the individual level.

Intervention Start Date

2017-10-01

Intervention End Date

2017-11-04

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

We will measure two sets of outcomes: a) the main outcome, productivity (measured as number of units produced per unit time) and cognitive assessment scores, and b) the intermediate outcomes (total active time, heart rate, activity count).

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design Details

For our main outcomes we will estimate the following:
a) Effect of temperature setting on productivity and cognition (OLS).
b) Effect of wage regime on productivity and cognition (OLS.)
c) Effect of wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT) on the main outcomes using temperature setting as an instrument for WBGT.
d) A difference in difference design to estimate the differential effect of the two different wage regimes under the high and low temperature settings on the main outcomes.

Randomization Method

Randomization done in office by a computer

Randomization Unit

Intervention one: village-day level
Intervention two: individual level

Was the treatment clustered?

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

N/A

Sample size: planned number of observations

400 individuals. The yield was 363 individuals.

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

For each of the following arms, we had planned on 100 individuals. The numbers below show the actual yield.
Forest setting, regular incentive: 98
Forest setting, higher incentive: 91
Non-Forest setting, regular incentive: 87
Non-Forest setting, higher incentive: 87

Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)

Supporting Documents and Materials

IRB