AEA RCT Registry currently lists 12130 studies with locations in 170 countries.
Investments in early childhood development (ECD) have lifelong effects on the growth of an individual, the educational attainment of the next generation, and the economic growth of a country. Poor ECD trends persist in populations around the world, especially those in lower and middle-income countries. Research shows that many children from less-resourced settings might not be experiencing high quality language and parent-child interaction environments necessary for healthy child development. Evidence from non-Western, as well as low-income settings in developed countries, suggests that the home language and parent-child interaction environment have a strong influence on child development outcomes. Rural China is one example of a low-income setting where the home language environment...
Female labor force participation in Jordan remains low despite women’s educational attainment, as elsewhere in the region. Could misperceived social norms about the support and increasing opportunity for Jordanian women among both households and employers keep women from reaching their potential and desired employment? An information treatment, as an experimental randomized component of this survey, showcases success stories from the Jordanian private sector relating to female employment and gender-inclusive practices, or featuring export-readiness-related success stories. This allows us to assess the effect of that information treatment on the employers' responses. The objective is to provide evidence-based advice to employers regarding labor and export policies.
We are studying Inspiring Teacher's Tools for Foundational Learning Improvement (TFLI). TFLI uses best practices from early-grade reading instruction in a structured pedagogy format, in which teachers are given teacher guides with semi-scripted, high-quality lesson plans that tell them exactly how to teach their classes. These plans are linked to workbooks, training and support from Inspiring Teachers’ employees, who are expert teachers and teacher trainers. This basic approach has been proven to be highly effective in many other interventions and contexts across Africa. TFLI adds a digital layer to this structured pedagogy approach, with teachers accessing program material and training videos via the Smart Coach smartphone app. The app will also collect high-frequency data on student o...
Students may not be aware of the contribution they can make by pursuing different majors, perceiving some fields as more associated with community well-being and others as lacking potential for social impact. We study these perceptions, along with students' preferences for this job attribute, and implement an information intervention to correct potential misperceptions about the social impact of different fields, allowing us to assess whether changes in these beliefs affect students' major choices. We run also a follow-up survey two months later. The goal of this survey wave is to assess the persistence of treatment effects on beliefs, advice given to peers, and major and minor intentions. We also collect qualitative data to gain a broader understanding of the other factors shaping ...
Traditional fired clay bricks dominate the construction sector in Bangladesh, contributing significantly to air pollution and topsoil degradation. Although cleaner, non-fired alternatives like concrete blocks exist, their adoption remains low. This study evaluates whether reducing information frictions and capacity constraints can accelerate adoption of blocks. We implement a three-arm cluster randomized controlled trial across 66 upazilas (sub-districts) in 22 districts (total baseline sample N = 3,056 respondents). Upazilas are randomized within district into: (i) Control (no intervention), (ii) Treatment 1 (T1): information workshop on block usage plus a block supplier directory targeted to contractors, procurement officers, and private clients, and (iii) Treatment 2 (T2): T1 plus ha...
Legal or administrative barriers—such as employment bans for asylum seekers—can prevent people from working even when they initially would like to. This study examines whether such temporary barriers reduce people’s willingness to work both during periods of restricted access and after the barriers are removed and explores possible mechanisms driving these effects. In a multi-day online experiment, participants repeatedly choose between a well-paid work option and a lower-paid leisure option. In one treatment, participants are repeatedly prevented from carrying out the work option they choose and are instead assigned to leisure, creating a situation in which access to work is externally restricted. In a control group, participants always have full access to the work option. The main g...
We have written a detailed pre-analysis plan that we will release on study completion. We have omitted the abstract here so that it becomes visible when the study is complete.
Entrepreneurs stay in business despite both lower initial earnings and slower growth of income than in paid employment (Hamilton et al., 2000; Moskowitz and Vissing-Jorgensen, 2002; Astebro et al., 2004). This puzzling behavior is commonly explained by nonpecuniary taste-based factors like preferences for autonomy or control (see for review Astebro et al., 2014). Though specific preferences, of course, play a role, the entrepreneurs can stay self-employed simply because they can not find a job since prospective employers could prefer candidates with corporate experience. Some studies show discrimination of entrepreneurs at the labor market ( e.g. Failla et al., 2017). However, these evidence either correlation or inconclusive. Moreover, little is known why employees discriminate the...
This is a repository for the collaboration between the Oxford Center for Macro-Experimental Development, GiveDirectly, STEG, and BITSS collaboration for studying the macroeconomic effects of large-scale unconditional cash transfers implemented by GiveDirectly in Malawi. As part of the collaboration, teams of macro-development researchers work on structural analyses of the macroeconomic impacts of cash transfers. Here is a rough timeline: 1. Jul 2025: All teams visited study sites in Malawi ex-ante and were able to suggest/propose experimental design and questionnaire additions. 2. Jan - Apr 2026: All teams were shared baseline data on housheolds, enterprises, markets, and prices from Chiradzulu District. Teams are encouraged to pre-register structural analyses as a condition f...
There is a debate in the literature as to whether dispersed or compressed wage structures enhances individual and organizational performance. We study how to design an incentive structure in an environment with two heterogeneous players using a lab experiment.