AEA RCT Registry currently lists 12160 studies with locations in 170 countries.
We study the effect of narrative videos on attitudes toward Ukrainian refugees among Lithuanian adults. We randomly assign approximately 1,500 respondents to one of four 90-second videos describing a refugee journey: three narrative arms (empathy, shared history, economic) and a control. The three videos share a single storyboard and differ only in voice-over. After the video, respondents complete a short decision task involving a current Ukrainian refugee policy proposal, in which they observe how others have responded before forming their own view. Outcomes include the policy choice, a feeling thermometer toward Ukrainian refugees, an incentivised donation, and additional policy-support items. We re-contact respondents one month and six weeks after wave 1 to track how effects evolve.
Many economic and policy decisions involve trade-offs between the well-being of individuals present today and that of individuals living in the future. Enke et al. (2022) introduces the concept of moral universalism, defined as the extent to which individuals exhibit the same level of altruism and trust towards strangers as they do to in-group members. Building on this framework of altruism, our study aims to measure intertemporal universalism, which refers to the extent to which people exhibit similar levels of altruism towards strangers who live and enjoy material benefits at different moments of time. In this study, we focus on the present and the future (rather than the past). Our experiment is designed to rigorously vary the dates at which subjects participate in the study and rece...
In Malawi, more than 80% of students at the end of grade 4 are unable to read a single familiar word (World Bank, 2018). High pupil-teacher ratios and limited resources constrain teachers’ ability to provide individualised instruction, contributing to the learning crisis in foundational literacy and numeracy. Digital solutions like personalised adaptive learning (PAL) can deliver high-quality, differentiated instruction at scale, but infrastructure and fixed costs have historically limited their reach in low-resource settings. The BEFIT program addresses infrastructure challenges by providing a comprehensive package that includes solar energy, tablets, and training, thereby lowering these fixed costs to support scalable implementation. The Building Education Foundations through Innov...
Microfinance institutions (MFIs) serve as a crucial financial bridge for underserved populations, particularly in developing nations where traditional banking services are inaccessible. However, these institutions often face significant operational challenges, including the high costs associated with administering and recovering small loans. Intensive borrower monitoring, frequent field visits, and default risks contribute to higher interest rates and operational costs, making borrowing increasingly expensive for low-income individuals. This research aims to address the challenges of high operational costs by proposing a behavioural experiment that utilises faith-based nudges to enhance cost efficiency. This approach enables MFIs to lower interest rates or Islamic MFIs to reduce their m...
Can synthetic experiments with AI agents serve as rigorous research tools for generating insights, testing hypotheses, and informing managerial decision-making under uncertainty? This pre-analysis plan specifies a comprehensive validation study comparing 16 persona generation methods across a 2×2×4 factorial design: two base sampling algorithms crossed with a clustering algorithm and four constraint configurations. Each of the 16 persona generation methods generates a sample of 800 college undergraduate students who serve as synthetic experimental subjects. The 16 samples undergo the identical 2×2 factorial experiment (Causal Reasoning Training × ChatGPT Access) previously conducted with real human participants, with participants randomized across the four experimental conditions (200 p...
This study characterizes MBA students' mental models of monetary incentives, meaning their subjective beliefs about how different compensation contracts affect employee behavior.
This study examines policymakers' and the general public's demand for evidence-based policies. Leveraging the results of a large-scale field experiment, we implement a set of survey experiments on a sample of U.S. state policymakers and a representative sample of Americans to investigate whether support for robust policy evaluation and scaling is influenced by prior beliefs on efficacy of the policy, and how respondents update their beliefs and preferences when presented with novel experimental evidence.
Research shows that poverty can hinder cognitive development, particularly in low-income countries where children often underutilize their cognitive potential both inside and outside the classroom. The ability to think critically, make informed decisions, plan strategically, remember information, and reason spatially is fundamental to learning and human capital formation—yet these skills are often underdeveloped in contexts of extreme poverty. Chess offers a promising, engaging, and low-cost means to foster these abilities. As a structured game of strategy and foresight, chess strengthens higher-order cognitive processes through play-based learning. This project will causally evaluate the impact of structured chess instruction on children’s cognitive, academic, and non-cognitive develop...
This study evaluates the impact of an AI-powered math tutoring platform and an AI career coaching chatbot on learning outcomes and educational aspirations among 5th-year secondary students in public schools in Lima, Peru. The AI math tutor covers Peru's national math curriculum and is used during regular math class time in school computer labs, supervised by students' regular math teacher. The AI career coach helps students explore post-secondary options, understand economic returns to education, and develop concrete career plans during existing tutoría (guidance) periods. The study uses a cluster-randomized design with approximately 100 schools as the unit of randomization and three study arms: (1) AI tutoring with learning-science modifications plus career coaching, (2) AI tutoring...
I am running an RCT in 80 government and 40 low-cost private schools in Cape Coast Ghana for first grade students. These schools get one or both of two cross-randomized treatments. One treatment organizes scripted parent meetings where parents are 1) told the benefits of doing literacy activities with their child at home (e.g. asking what they learned in school, reading with them, going through school materials etc.), 2) trained on how to understand the report card they get on students literacy scores, and 3) briefly trained how to run a 1-minute reading assessment using provided materials on their child. The other cross-randomized treatment trains school leaders to better coach their teachers in teaching literacy, and also how to interact/engage parents. I am studying the interaction o...