AEA RCT Registry currently lists 4523 studies with locations in 159 countries.
Little is known about how relative performance feedback in higher education based on performance measures such as obtained credits can be designed in order to increase academic achievement of students across the entire performance distribution. In addition, past research was often conducted with students from specific study programs. Against this background, we will assign students from 21 different study programs to different types of relative performance feedback and track their study progress in the short and in the long run.
Schools at all levels have been closed across much of the world due to Covid-19. This situation poses a significant threat to student learning, attachment to schools, and their mental health. To minimize the loss of school days, many governments are implementing distance learning programs through radio or TV in the developing countries. The Government of Bangladesh (GoB) has started broadcasting pre-recorded classes through a designated TV channel (Sangsad TV) from 29 March 2020 for secondary students (grades 6-10) . The program titled ‘My school at home’ will run each day from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm broadcasting classes on different subjects for each grade. While it is possible for TV/radio-based distance learning to be effective, many of the challenges of in-person education (such as ...
The education system in Pakistan is characterized by low average learning and high learning inequality, both of which have been aggravated by COVID-19 related school closures. In other contexts, targeted instruction programs that tailor teaching content to students' actual learning levels have proven effective in raising learning, however these programs have often required costly additional teaching resources. To better scale targeted instruction, we test whether a low cost technology support tool can assist teachers in implementing the program without extra human inputs. We also explore whether the benefit of this technology is heterogeneous across teachers, and whether teachers who can benefit most from the tool self-select into using it immediately or after a trial period.
COVID-19 and policies to control it have resulted in widespread poverty and food insecurity as the pandemic has adversely affected employment opportunities, incomes and livelihoods of millions of households. In order to protect poor households from income-loss and inaccessibility to food supplies, the central and state governments have introduced several benefits as part of its existing welfare schemes. However, there often exists a gap between introduction and access to these publicly funded government programmes. We conduct a field experiment in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India with just over 1000 households during the COVID-19 pandemic to examine whether raising awareness about government benefits via information provision over the phone leads to improved knowledge, increased access...
Gender discrimination against entrepreneurs, who form the largest sector of the labor force in Sub-Saharan Africa, may drive gender gaps in access to capital and subsequently reduce the performance of female-owned businesses. Observable differences between men and women entrepreneurs explain only a small portion of the “gender profit gap”, suggesting gender discrimination may be an important, yet understudied, factor inhibiting the success of female entrepreneurship.1 This raises concerns about gender equity, but also growth: by misallocating capital, discrimination can reduce the returns to capital and thereby reduce productivity and economic growth. Thus, there may be an opportunity to both increase gender equity and improve efficiency in the allocation of capital. In our paper, we...
The COVID-19 pandemic has been a major disruption for U.S. students and has led to a severe reduction in college enrollment, especially among low-income and underrepresented minority students. For instance, at community colleges, Black, Hispanic and Native American freshman enrollment is down by nearly 30 percent and White and Asian American freshman enrollment is down by about 20 percent. The fact that economically disadvantaged U.S. high school seniors and recent graduates have had their college-going plans disrupted raises concern that these students’ college-going intentions will be derailed beyond a year and have long-term negative consequences for their educational attainment and ultimately economic security. We will study an intervention focused on helping low-income and underrep...
Old age pensions are a common feature of welfare policy worldwide. However, little is known about the effect of these pensions on the recipients and their families. In this study, we will partner with the government of Tamil Nadu, India to study the effects of old age pensions. We will assign households with a member who is likely to be eligible for the pension but not currently receiving it to either a treatment or control condition. Those assigned to treatment will receive assistance in applying for the pension. We will track outcomes of the elderly and their family members for several years following the intervention.
Conservation campaigns often struggle to persuade farmers to adopt pro-environmental practices. From field observations in the SAVA region of Madagascar, conservationists mostly use imperatives and nature-focus messages to encourage pro-environmental actions. Empirical evidence suggests that farmers and conservationists differ in the way they perceive the environment and wildlife, which reveals differences in their values. While conservationist emphasize biospheric or self-trascendence values in their messages, farmers consider the environment as a means to improve their own well-being, reflecting self-enhancement values or, in other words, an economic thinking. The communication mismatch between the two parties, might be hindering the success of promising environmental campaigns. We d...
Executive Summary: While there is great interest in the potential for price transparency to improve the functioning of health care markets, there is conflicting evidence on the effects of transparency tools on consumer behavior and very limited evidence on the effects of these tools on provider pricing decisions. Prior research has largely focused on insurer-specific tools, making it difficult to assess market-level effects; and has mainly used weak study designs. The roll-out of the New York Healthcare Online Shopping Tool (NY HOST) offers a unique opportunity to systematically and rigorously assess the impact of transparency – here focused on provider charges -- on consumer and provider behavior. FAIR Health will randomize the implementation of NY HOST so that while charge inf...
For many countries and public institutions, efficient tax collection is essential for their existence. Even though their tax codes seem always complete and precise in specifying terms and procedures of tax collections, in reality there often exists space for improvements. In Slovakia, if a property is sold within five years from its acquisition, the Capital gains tax on property (further just “Tax”) should be paid. The Tax should be self-reported by taxpayers in an annual tax report for the year in which the property was sold, which opens space for evasion. In this project, we cooperate with the Financial Administration Slovak Republic and aim at increasing the Tax collections by sending informative letters to the potential evaders that remind them of their obligations. We test severa...