AEA RCT Registry currently lists 12869 studies with locations in 172 countries.
We conduct a field experiment in cooperation with an energy efficiency assistance program in Germany. As part of that program, the participating low-income households receive a letter informing them about eligibility for a voucher for replacing their old refrigerator against a new, efficient one. We complement that information letter by three types of nudges. Following classic behavioral economic research, the nudges introduce a gain vs. a loss framing to the information letter. Further, we adopt simplified versions (both in terms of icons and in terms of a checklist) to ease the cognitive burden the low-income households may experience. We study the effect of the nudges on (i) the likelihood that the household requests the voucher and (ii) the likelihood that the household invests in e...
We conduct an online experiment where subjects make two types of choices: one involving monetary lotteries and another involving riskless alternatives, the values of which can be computed through simple mathematical operations. The objective of the study is to evaluate whether subjects display similar behaviors in these two environments and to understand why.
Essential public-sector workers in low- and middle-income countries (teachers, health workers, police officers) operate under chronic stress, exposure to community violence, and institutional neglect of their mental health. Burnout, anxiety, and untreated trauma are pervasive among these frontline workers, yet rigorous evidence on scalable interventions to support their wellbeing remains nearly nonexistent. This gap matters not only to the workers themselves, but also to the quality of public services they deliver. We provide experimental evidence on whether socio-emotional resilience training can improve the mental health and professional effectiveness of essential workers, focusing on public school teachers in Guatemala. We evaluate SanaMente, a trauma-informed training program that b...
The research team will be partnering with the American Economic Association to launch a three-year randomized controlled trial of the effects of author-anonymized peer reviewing, commonly referred to as "double-blind." This evaluation will involve the AER, AER: Insights, and the four American Economic Journals. In the treatment group, information revealing author identities will be excluded from materials provided to reviewers, and reviewers will be asked to refrain from seeking them out through web searches or other means. The experiment will test the effects of removing author identities from the information routinely provided to reviewers, while recognizing that reviewers may become aware of author identities in other ways. Key outcomes that will be examined include (1) autho...
This field experiment studies whether managers can be trained to use charismatic communication to mobilize collective action and foster cooperative workplace behavior. The study involves 104 managers and their employees in a microfinance company in Kyrgyzstan. After baseline surveys and a baseline speech video, managers are randomized to one of two half-day leadership trainings. The treatment provides practical training in concrete, learnable charismatic leadership communication tactics. The active-comparison training covers closely related leadership concepts but does not train managers in the same concrete behavioral communication techniques. A distinctive feature of the study is a repeated panel of structured, task-specific managerial communication episodes. In addition to the basel...
We study the effectiveness of tax amnesties in low-income countries in the context of a tax amnesty law passed by the parliament of Uganda in 2023. Using comprehensive administrative records on liabilities before and payments into the amnesty, two randomized controlled trials in which we send uptake nudges to eligible debtors, as well as original survey data we collect from 1,922 firms, we study uptake of the amnesty, its fiscal impact and distributional consequences, as well as debtors‘ underlying perceptions and attitudes.
Life skills programming has shown promise in improving adolescent wellbeing across outcomes ranging from mental health, reduced exposure to violence, human capital development, etc. However, evidence on the scale-up and sustainability of this type of programming remains elusive. Most of these programs rely on a sustained and consistent flow of donor funding and end when funding windows close. In searching for a more sustainable pathway to scale, BRAC designed a project (called ELA in Schools or ELAS) to adapt the ELA curriculum and delivery model to an after-school club setting, leveraging government funding by relying on classroom spaces to host club meetings and teachers to serve as mentors. The program includes separate clubs for adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) and adolescent...
This study evaluates whether access to Google Gemini Notebook, an AI-powered study tool available to ASU students, helps undergraduate students build more effective study habits and improve academic performance, and whether the tool is more effective when paired with personalized guidance about evidence-based study practices. The study is a three-arm randomized controlled trial among undergraduate students enrolled in targeted intermediate economics and business courses at Arizona State University. Consenting students complete a baseline survey after the first course exam and are randomly assigned to: (1) a control group receiving the standard course experience and neutral study-related contact; (2) a Gemini Notebook-only group receiving access-oriented guidance, including an introducto...
Our study evaluates whether structured support can improve the use of research evidence in government policymaking. The intervention targets mid-level policymakers working in trade-related ministries and agencies in Ethiopia, where evidence-informed decision-making is widely seen as im-portant but difficult to implement in practice. We test two approaches that build on each other. The first approach/treatment focuses on improving access to and understanding of research through targeted training, rapid evidence reviews, and improved access to academic resources. The additional component builds on this by adding mentoring and co-production of policy-relevant outputs, to strengthen ownership, relevance, and practical application of evidence. These approaches are compared to a business-as...
Impulso Chileno is a program run by Fundación Luksic that supports small business owners in Chile through a combination of non-reimbursable cash grants and access to a digital training platform called La Brújula ("The Compass"), which offers asynchronous content on topics such as value proposition, sales channels, accounting, and business management. The program targets formalized entrepreneurs with monthly sales between CLP 500,000 and CLP 2,000,000 (roughly USD 500–2,000). This study evaluates the seventh edition of the program (ICH7) using a randomized controlled trial. It seeks to answer two questions: first, whether receiving the program improves business performance compared to not receiving financial support; and second, whether larger grants produce larger effects than smaller ...