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Pricing of Private Education in Urban India: Demand, Use and Impact

Last registered on December 17, 2015

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Pricing of Private Education in Urban India: Demand, Use and Impact
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0000652
Initial registration date
July 07, 2015

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
July 07, 2015, 4:08 PM EDT

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

Last updated
December 17, 2015, 8:01 PM EST

Last updated is the most recent time when changes to the trial's registration were published.

Locations

Region

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
Cornell University

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Affiliation
Cornell University

Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2014-03-01
End date
2016-05-31
Secondary IDs
Abstract
There is a large market for education services for children in the developing world, with many services being provided by private education service providers. Yet little is known about how prices influence demand and utilization of these services. This study explores this issue by examining demand for tutoring services among middle school children in India. Through a two-part pricing design, we investigate how prices influence the number and composition of those willing to take up the services, whether prices can induce more frequent attendance through a psychological effect, and whether treatment effects are heterogeneous by willingness to pay. In addition, given the gender differences prevalent in educational attainment in India, particularly among older children, we explore differential effects that pricing policy can have on children based on their age and gender.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Berry, James and Priya Mukherjee. 2015. "Pricing of Private Education in Urban India: Demand, Use and Impact." AEA RCT Registry. December 17. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.652-3.0
Former Citation
Berry, James and Priya Mukherjee. 2015. "Pricing of Private Education in Urban India: Demand, Use and Impact." AEA RCT Registry. December 17. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/652/history/6394
Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Households are approached and randomly offered tuition services for one of 4 monthly prices: Rs. 250/200 (the posted price) ; Rs 150 ; Rs. 75 ; Rs. 0. Households receive a voucher corresponding to their price, effective between April 2014 and March 2015. Conditional on attendance in August 2014, a second price offer (equal to or lower than the first price) is made, effective untill March 2015.

Intervention Start Date
2014-04-01
Intervention End Date
2015-04-01

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Children are tracked in the classes for 10 months. The key outcomes of interest are takeup (enrollment), attendance in the classes, and child test scores.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
This research consists of a field experiment in the market for group-based, after-school tutoring services in India.

The sample for this study consists of approximately 5400 children in 4400 households in in the neighborhoods of Pratham’s 21 tuition centers.

Households are offered tutoring services at prices ranging from 0 to 250 rupees per month. We implement a two-part pricing design similar to those in the health literature (Cohen and Dupas, 2010; Ashraf, Berry and Shapiro, 2010). Households are first offered tutoring services for their children at randomly assigned prices (the “offer price”). Then, if a household accepts that price, the household receives a randomly assigned discount of up to the amount of the offer price (resulting in a lower price paid, the “second price”). This way, the selection effect of prices can be isolated by examining the composition (and behavior) of households that purchase the services at different offer prices conditional on the second price. The psychological effect can be isolated by examining the behavior of households that have paid different prices, conditional on the offer price.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
First-price randomization done on computer for existing households, and using a draw from a bag of scratch cards for new households. Second-price randomization done on computer.
Randomization Unit
Individual (child) level
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
Not applicable
Sample size: planned number of observations
5400
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
First price offer
Rs. 0 - 865 ; Rs. 75 - 1015 ; Rs. 150 - 1427 ; Rs. 200/250 - 2327

Second price offer
Rs. 0 - 942 ; Rs. 75 - 403 ; Rs. 150 - 194 ; Rs. 200/250 - 82
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
IFMR Human Subjects Committee
IRB Approval Date
2014-03-11
IRB Approval Number
IRB00007107; FWA00014616; IORG0005894
IRB Name
Cornell University Institutional Review Board - Human Participants (Office of Research Integrity and Assurance)
IRB Approval Date
2013-07-29
IRB Approval Number
1307004019

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