AEA RCT Registry currently lists 11661 studies with locations in 170 countries.
We are testing the effect of having your work evaluated by AI vs humans on levels of intrinsic motivation and prosocial behavior and whether the effect depends on monetary incentives.
In this trial, we aim to measure the social norms associated with the choice sets of two experimental games. The first is a modified Dictator Game, while the second is a novel "Complicity Game" that we have developed (pre-registered in the AEA RCT Registry, code AEARCTR-0015235). We elicit both injunctive norms and descriptive (or subjunctive) norms. After presenting participants with the instructions for each game, we elicit normative expectations as follows: for injunctive norms, we ask respondents to evaluate each option available to the main decision-maker using a 4-point scale indicating how socially appropriate they believe the option to be. Respondents are asked to guess the modal response (“most frequently chosen answer for the selected choice by the other participants of thi...
Digitalization in banking is leaving elderly clients at risk of losing access to financial services, yet little is known about how to effectively encourage technology adoption at an advanced age. In a companion field experiment (AEARCTR-0013985), we find that while internet banking training is highly effective conditional on participation, take-up of training among the group of elderly non-adopters is very low (2% initial response rate). This survey experiment investigates how the design of training invitation materials can increase older adults’ willingness to participate in internet banking training. We conduct an online survey experiment with around 1,000 German respondents aged 50-75 who do not regularly use internet banking. Respondents are presented with a hypothetical invitation ...
Most consumers in the developing world purchase food in informal markets, where very little enforcement of quality grades and standards exists. These informal markets are characterized by numerous small-scale traders and processors who typically operate without formal business registration, making enforcing and monitoring food safety standards difficult and expensive. Given the unobservability of many food safety attributes, actors in such informal markets have little to no incentive to invest in food safety. This gives rise to a “lemons market” in which questionable quality and safety products dominate the food system. The milk food chain in Senegal is a quintessential example of an informal market characterized by food safety concerns. The vast majority of urban and peri-urban consu...
This study evaluates whether personalised step-to-points thresholds improve engagement in an insurer-linked physical activity incentive programme in the United Kingdom. The trial was embedded in a digital app platform operating alongside the insurer’s standard rewards programme. Eligible adult members with low prior recorded physical activity were invited to join the study app. Participants entered a six-week baseline period followed by a six-week intervention period, with rolling enrolment between November 2023 and February 2024. After post-baseline eligibility confirmation, 714 participants were randomised within insurer-defined engagement strata (Unengaged vs Low engaged). Randomisation was stratified by engagement group and implemented automatically within the study app. In th...
We experimentally evaluate the impact of a psychological support intervention for unemployed recent graduates in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia -- a context characterised by high unemployment rates, limited social safety nets, and high rates of psychological distress amongst youth. Our intervention consists of a five-week in-person intervention focused on stress management, problem-solving, behavioural activation, and strengthening social support. We randomize jobseekers into a group and an individual version of the intervention, which cover exactly the same curriculum, to isolate the impact of information sharing across jobseekers. We measure the impact of the intervention on psychological well-being, job search effort, and employment outcomes. Our study provides novel causal evidence on the li...
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According to a recent report by Oxfam (India Inequality Report 2022), only a third of the women in India own a mobile phone, whereas for men the ownership rate is over 60%. This wide gender gap in mobile phone usage is a matter of great concern as owning a mobile phone is identified to be pivotal to promoting the empowerment of women by the United Nations under target 5.b of its fifth Sustainable Development Goal (SDG-5). This project aims to study the causal effect of providing smartphones and training interventions on women empowerment.
Almost 1 billion adults worldwide are unable read or write in any language, with an estimated cost of US$ 5 billion annually to low-income countries (UNESCO 2020). This is of particular concern in West Africa, which has some of the lowest education indicators in the world. In Niger, the subject of our study, adult illiteracy rates are estimated at 70% (USAID 2023). Illiteracy is particularly striking in rural areas and among women. Niger’s ranking in terms of educational attainment is comparable to other Sahelian countries, namely Burkina Faso, Chad and Mali (UNDP 2017). While policymakers and academics alike have focused on primary and secondary education programs, such programs will only have impacts in the medium to long-term. Adult education programs have the potential to brid...
While enrollment in secondary school has increased significantly in the past 20 years, net enrollment rates remain below 70% in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) (UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 2021). Factors such as engagement in paid work and early marriage draw adolescents away from schooling during these critical years of development. In Bangladesh, where a reverse gender-gap in enrollment has emerged in recent years at both the primary and early secondary levels, gender inequities remain in the intrahousehold allocation of educational resources, with boys receiving greater investment in the quality of schooling (Xu, Sonchoy, and Fujii, 2022). Furthermore, at the secondary level, dropout rates among girls outpace boys at 42% compared to 33% (GIRL Center Research Brief, 2020...