AEA RCT Registry currently lists 11903 studies with locations in 170 countries.
This randomized controlled trial investigates how artificial intelligence (AI) assistance influences strategic decision-making in mergers and acquisitions (M&A). The study tests whether managers trained in the Theory-Based View (TBV) of strategy produce more outcome-aligned acquisition decisions and show a higher confidence in their assessments when aided by general-purpose or agentic AI systems. Three experimental arms are implemented with at least 400 experienced managers from the MedTech and Biotech industries: (1) Control – TBV training plus web search; (2) General AI – TBV training plus ChatGPT (GPT-5.4, reasoning effort set to medium); and (3) Agentic AI – TBV training plus ``Aristotle'', a multi-agent system developed at Bocconi University that applies TBV reasoning. Participa...
Districts across the United States are increasingly adopting tutoring as an evidence-based strategy for supporting students. Our study will test the impact of providing math tutoring on students at risk of not meeting early benchmarks. We will study a novel tutoring program (Math Corps) targeting students in grades K-3. The intervention builds upon the success of Math Corps programming for older students, and was developed to align with age-appropriate foundational math skills for early elementary students. Our primary research question is, To what extent does a math tutoring program for young learners affect students’ early math achievement? We will randomly assign eligible K-3 students within each school to receive Math Corps tutoring. We hypothesize that students assigned to receive ...
Adolescence is a key window for human development. Strategic timing of interventions during this life stage may seize opportunities and prevent risks; bolster the impact of earlier investments; and ease damages from previous adversity. Yet evidence on whether such programs can fulfill this potential, for which children, and through which channels, is scant, especially in low-resource settings, where 90% of the world’s 1.2 billion adolescents live. We rely on a cohort of ~2,400 adolescents. In 2015, this sample participated in a trial evaluating quality preschool education in Ghana. The program had sustained effects up to three years post-intervention, but its effects seemed to fade towards the end of primary school. In 2024, we re-randomised this sample at ~13 years to test a novel pare...
Social preferences lead to numerous favorable outcomes at both the individual and aggregate levels, such as improved management of common-pool and personal resources, as well as a reduced risk of conflict. Despite substantial evidence on their importance, less is known about how social preferences develop and evolve from childhood—a critical period for human capital formation. In this regard, a particularly important yet understudied question concerns their malleability to educational interventions. Our project aims at implementing and evaluating a randomized pedagogical intervention, designed to nurture social preferences in primary school children. The project involves collecting data on children’s social preferences though incentivized experiments (to be held before and twice after t...
This study evaluates the long-term impacts of a community-based preschool program randomized across 76 rural communities in Gaza Province, Mozambique in 2008. Save the Children assigned 30 communities to receive preschools serving children aged 3–5, and 46 communities served as controls. A baseline cohort of approximately 2,000 children was surveyed in 2008, with follow-up surveys in 2010 and 2014. Short- and medium-term evaluations showed significant gains in cognitive development, school readiness, socio-emotional skills, and primary school enrollment. By 2026, cohort members will be 21–23 years old. This long- run follow-up — the first experimental long-run evaluation of preschool in a Sub-Saharan African setting — will assess impacts on educational attainment, labor market partici...
In conflict-affected settings, schools become the primary institution responsible for supporting children's psychosocial recovery, effectively expanding the education production function beyond academic learning to include mental health and social-emotional development. Yet teachers in these contexts are typically trained only to deliver academic content and lack the skills to identify or address the psychological needs of trauma-exposed students. This mismatch between what schools are expected to produce and what teachers are equipped to deliver represents a critical deficit in the human capital of the teaching workforce—one with potentially compounding consequences, as untreated mental health conditions impair concentration, attendance, peer relationships, and learning. Understanding ...
Financial education is widely promoted as a tool to improve household financial outcomes, yet rigorous evidence on whether it translates into measurable improvements in credit behaviour remains limited — particularly for financially vulnerable populations and digital delivery channels. This study evaluates the causal impact of targeted financial education on credit outcomes, financial literacy, and financial wellbeing among users of a financial technology platform. The intervention is implemented as a randomized controlled trial in which eligible FinTech app users are invited to participate. Baseline data on financial capability, financial wellbeing, and socio-demographic characteristics are collected through a survey and combined with administrative credit records. Approximately 9,0...
This study evaluates whether increasing the salience of a large municipal infrastructure project affects local tax compliance. The intervention centers on the construction of a railway underpass, a highly visible public investment scheduled to begin in 2026 in the city of Caseros, Municipality of Tres de Febrero, Province of Buenos Aires. The project is financed through municipal revenues, mainly the Tasa por Servicios Generales (TSG), a property tax levied directly on owners according to the property assesment. The experiment tests whether (i) explicitly linking the tunnel to municipal taxation, and (ii) further personalizing this information using geographic proximity to the project, increase property tax compliance. The intervention is implemented through mailed letters sent duri...
This randomized controlled trial (RCT) evaluates the causal impact of an AI-powered Research Development Tool on the academic productivity and well-being of researchers. Participants, primarily PhD students and junior female economists, will be randomly assigned to one of two groups: a control group receiving feedback from a general-purpose AI, or a treatment group gaining access to a comprehensive AI-driven "Research Development Suite." This suite offers detailed, structured feedback on research papers and integrated workflow features. Over a 24-month intervention period, we will measure changes in objective productivity metrics (e.g., papers submitted/published, co-author networks) and subjective well-being (e.g., job satisfaction, work-life balance). The study aims to determine wheth...
This study investigates the effect of providing information and making costs associated with car use more salient. Specifically, we will study the impact of informing drivers about road toll prices over time on driving behavior and attitudes.