Oaxaca Hope Project

Last registered on May 29, 2015
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Oaxaca Hope Project
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0000721
Initial registration date
May 28, 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
May 28, 2015, 8:16 PM EDT

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

Last updated
May 29, 2015, 5:42 PM EDT

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

Locations

Country
Mexico
Region
Oaxaca

Primary Investigator

Name
Bruce Wydick
Affiliation
University of San Francisco
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Travis Lybbert
PI Affiliation
UC Davis
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Alessandra Cassar
PI Affiliation
University of San Francisco
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2015-05-25
End date
2016-09-16
Keywords
Finance & Microfinance
Additional Keywords
Aspirations, Hope, Microfinance, Randomized Trial
JEL code(s)
O12, O16
Secondary IDs
Abstract
We investigate the role that hope, aspirations, and other character virtues play in helping augment the impact of microfinance loans. While previous approaches in development economics have emphasized providing services and infrastructure to the poor, our research takes a novel approach by investigating the role of character virtues in economic development. We will employ a randomized controlled trial (RCT) among women in Zapotec communities who are part of a faith-based microfinance program in Oaxaca, Mexico. In this randomized trial among 50 community banks, the 25 treated community banks will view an inspirational documentary featuring four successful borrowers in the program, embark on a goal-setting exercise, and learn from a 4-week curriculum based on the three components of hope from Snyder (1994) then applying the principles of hope to a set of case studies involving women in microfinance.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Cassar, Alessandra, Travis Lybbert and Bruce Wydick. 2015. "Oaxaca Hope Project." AEA RCT Registry. May 29. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.721-2.0
Former Citation
Cassar, Alessandra, Travis Lybbert and Bruce Wydick. 2015. "Oaxaca Hope Project." AEA RCT Registry. May 29. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/721/history/4332
Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
A "hope" intervention consisting of an inspirational documentary, a goal-setting exercise, and a 4-week hope-based curriculum.
Intervention Start Date
2015-05-28
Intervention End Date
2015-07-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
i) H0/Ha: No impact/positive impact of hope intervention on overall happiness.
ii) H0/Ha: No impact/positive impact of hope intervention on hopefulness about future.
iii) H0/Ha: No impact/positive impact of hope intervention on index of 5 aspirations questions.
iv) H0/Ha: No impact/positive impact of hope intervention on index of 5 questions related to self-efficacy and perception of ability and 2 questions related to efficacy of civic participation.
v) H0/Ha: No impact/positive impact of hope intervention on index of 5 questions related to ability to conceptualize avenues out of poverty.
vi) H0/Ha: No impact/positive impact of hope intervention on index of 3 questions related to future orientation (increasing future orientation)
vii) H0/Ha: No impact/positive impact of hope intervention on index of 3 questions related to risk aversion (decreasing risk aversion)
viii) H0/Ha: No impact/positive impact of hope intervention on index of 3 questions related to spiritual orientation.
ix) H0/Ha: No impact/positive impact of hope intervention on weekly hours devoted to business.
x) H0/Ha: No impact/positive impact of hope intervention on weekly sales.
xi) H0/Ha: No impact/positive impact of hope intervention on weekly savings in community bank.
xii) H0/Ha: No impact/positive impact of hope intervention on loan demand from community bank.
xiii) H0/Ha: No impact/positive impact of hope intervention on treated sum of squares relative to total sum of squares in matrix related to impact of effort versus luck in business sales.
xiv) H0/Ha: No impact/positive impact of hope intervention on structural parameters of the following aspirations-based utility function from Lybbert and Wydick (2015):

Primary Outcomes (explanation)
Variables will be constructed from responses on the field survey, often a 0-10 scale for psychological questions, business variables such as sales, loan demand, and savings. Estimations will be carried out on individual questions as well as the indexed family of questions.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We will randomize our hope intervention over 50 community banks. Banks are matched based in order of priority on a) loan officer, b) size, c) number of loan cycles, and d) type of business according to the importance of these factors as relayed by loan officers. Treatment banks will receive the full hope-based intervention as described above. Surveys are at baseline, with followup at 1 month, 6 months, and 12 months.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Banks are formed into statistically matching pairs, with each member of a pair being A or B. Coin flip in office determines treatment group.
Randomization Unit
Community bank-level randomization.
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
50 community banks
Sample size: planned number of observations
650
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
25 banks treatment, 25 banks 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
University of San Francisco IRB
IRB Approval Date
2015-05-22
IRB Approval Number
IRB Protocol #459
Analysis Plan

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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