AEA RCT Registry currently lists 335 studies with locations in 69 countries.
We partner with an Islamic bank in Indonesia which sends text messages to its customers who are late on their credit card debt repayment. We randomize the content of the text messages across customers: some receive simple reminders; some receive information about the financial consequences of being late on debt repayment; others receive information about the religious doctrine on being late on debt repayment. The purpose of the texts is to encourage repayment by reminding borrowers that they are late on their credit card repayments, or by leveraging extrinsic motivation (informing them about about the financial consequences of non-repayment) or intrinsic motivation (informing them about about the religious consequences of non-repayment). We test - if our texts influence repayment of t...
View TrialNearly 700,000 Indonesians migrate abroad for work each year. The vast majority do so through recruiters and placement agencies that facilitate temporary employment in countries across Asia and the Middle East. These agencies support migrants starting with pre-departure paperwork and training through repatriation, and are therefore a crucial determinant of a worker’s migration experience. Potential migrants ostensibly have a great deal of choice between agencies – there are over 400 formally registered firms in Indonesia – and in theory, competition between these firms should drive out poorly performing agencies. Yet existing evidence suggests that agency quality is highly variable, and that many agencies engage in exploitative practices. This could be due to market power at the local l...
View TrialThis paper describes the analysis plan for a randomized controlled trial evaluating the effect of micro-insurance provision to informal workers in Nairobi, Kenya. In 2011, we worked with the Co-operative Insurance Company (CIC) to provide free health insurance to 300 randomly selected metal workers in Kamukunji Jua Kali. The policy included inpatient and outpatient coverage that applied to the participant’s house- hold. Another randomly selected sample of 300 Jua Kali workers received a one-time unconditional cash transfer equal in value to the insurance policy. This study aims to identify the impact of health micro-insurance vis-`a-vis cash transfers on the economic and psychological well-being of treated individuals. This plan outlines our evaluation questions, outcomes of interest, a...
View TrialThis evaluation assesses the impact of the ILO's occupational Safety and Health Program on small and medium-sized enterprises in the Indonesian manufacturing sector. While working in the manufacturing sector is hazardous per se due to the use of heavy machinery, tools, chemicals and the like, workers are even more at risk in an environment where basic labor standards are not enforced. Resulting work place accidents leading to the temporal or permanent inability to work, or even death, have severe economic consequences. Workers face unexpected health expenditures and the sudden loss of income. For enterprises, the sudden loss of workers interrupts productive activities and may affect profitability if enterprises cannot compensate the shortfall in labor in the production process. Th...
View TrialWith support from the Punjab Livestock and Dairy Development Department, we have created and are evaluating the effects of a mobile-based system that delivers information on the quality of artificial insemination (AI) and inoculation services to farmers in rural in Punjab, Paksitan. We are interested in the effect of quality information on farmer and veterinary attitudes towards and uptake of AI and inoculation services, on supply and demand for government services and market prices, and ultimately on pregnancy and disease rates among cattle.
View TrialDespite the importance of student effort in determining education outcomes, relatively few programs have been designed to directly motivate students. Yet most school-age children face a difficult intertemporal decision problem since the costs of studying are immediate while the payoff is distant and uncertain. Although recent experiments have found that student incentives can improve learning outcomes under some circumstances, the impact of such rewards has likely been limited by a focus rewarding relatively distant outcomes (end-of-semester exams). This field experiment with primary school children in India leverages a technology-based learning platform to directly reward student effort (i.e. practicing) through both tangible and non-tangible incentives.
View TrialThis project aims at assessing whether there exists racial discrimination in the provision of local public services at the county level in the US. In particular, we will focus on six types of public services that span a broad range of activities provided at the local level. Our design entails us sending emails with queries related to the services provided by the above-mentioned offices. The emails will be signed by names that evoke different race (white or black). We will then gauge whether there are systematic differences in the response to these emails, across senders of different race.
View TrialUsing experimental and quasi-experimental methods, this report shows that Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) middle schools have significant and substantial positive impacts on student achievements in four core academic subjects: reading, math, science, and social studies. One of the report’s analyses uses a rigorous randomized experimental analysis that relies on the schools’ admissions lotteries to identify comparison students, thereby accounting for students’ prior achievement, as well as factors such as student and parent motivation. The study is the most rigorous large-scale evaluation of KIPP charter schools to date. Student outcomes examined in the experimental component of the study included reading and math scores on a nationally normed assessment that includes measures of highe...
View TrialThe National Study of CMO Effectiveness is a longitudinal research effort designed to measure how nonprofit charter school management organizations (CMOs) affect student achievement and to examine the internal structures, practices, and policy contexts that may influence these outcomes. The study examines CMO impacts on student achievement in middle school, high school graduation, and postsecondary enrolment using quasi-experimental methods for a large sample of schools. In a smaller sample of oversubscribed schools, we obtain experimental CMO impacts in elementary, middle and high schools using lottery data.
View TrialObjectives. This study experimentally assessed whether alcohol television storylines impact youth drinking attitudes and intentions and whether corrective epilogues can moderate this impact. Methods. Participants aged 14-17 completed the online study. Television episodes were professionally produced showing heavy drinking leading to either positive or negative consequences. The episode was shown alone or with an epilogue where a main character discussed the deleterious impacts of excessive drinking. Attitudes toward drinkers and drinking intentions were measured subsequently, along with reactions to the episode and demographic data. Results. Exposure to the pro-alcohol episode led to more positive attitudes toward drinkers and greater drinking intentions but a corrective video ep...
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