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Field
Trial Title
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Before
Information Frictions in Internal Migration
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After
The Role of Information and Networks in Migration
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Trial Status
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Before
in_development
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After
on_going
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Field
Abstract
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Before
We study the importance of information frictions facing potential rural-urban migrants in Kenya using a cluster-randomized trial with a representative set households across 5 Kenyan counties. Pre-experimental work shows that rural workers' beliefs about income in the largest city, Nairobi, are severely downward biased on average, and that many potential migrants have limited or no social connections in Nairobi. Given the importance of social networks in forming beliefs, assisting with job search, and providing localized information, it is possible that weak networks act as a barrier to migration.
Our baseline intervention provides detailed information about earnings in Nairobi. Our "group'' and "guide'' interventions supplement the baseline information by attempting to leverage origin and destination social networks, respectively, to facilitate migration. Our "group'' intervention presents the same information in a group setting, and encourages villagers to share information with each other about Nairobi, discuss their plans to migrate in the future, and potentially coordinate their trips. Our "guide'' intervention pairs prospective migrants with established local guides in Nairobi, who meet with them and share information about the city. We also reserve a set of villages where we treat a subset of the experimental sample, allowing us to study the determinants of information diffusion.
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After
We study the importance of information and network frictions facing potential rural-urban migrants in Kenya using a cluster-randomized trial with a representative set of households across 5 Kenyan counties. Pre-experimental work shows that rural workers' beliefs about income in the largest Kenyan city, Nairobi, are severely downward biased on average, and that many potential migrants have limited or no social connections in Nairobi. Given the importance of social networks in forming beliefs, assisting with job search, and providing localized information, it is possible that limited information and weak networks act as a barrier to migration.
Our information intervention provides detailed information about earnings in Nairobi. Our ``group'' and ``guide'' interventions supplement this information by attempting to leverage origin and destination social networks, respectively, to facilitate migration. Our ``group'' intervention presents the same information in a group setting, and encourages villagers to share information with each other about Nairobi, discuss their plans to migrate in the future, and potentially coordinate their trips. Our ``guide'' intervention pairs prospective migrants with established local residents in Nairobi, who talk with them over the phone or in person to share information about the city. In some villages receiving information about Nairobi, we survey both treated and untreated households, allowing us to study the determinants of information diffusion through social networks.
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Field
Trial End Date
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Before
May 31, 2024
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After
December 31, 2024
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Field
Last Published
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Before
September 19, 2022 03:04 PM
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After
June 01, 2023 05:05 PM
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Field
Intervention (Public)
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Before
Control: Households in these villages will be surveyed, but will not receive any treatment.
Information: Households in these villages will receive a detailed information sheet about earnings in Nairobi. When they receive the sheet, they will also hear a detailed script read by the enumerator explaining where the information on the sheet came from and how to interpret it.
Spillover: A random two-thirds of sampled households in these villages will be given the information sheet and script, as described above. The remaining one-third will be surveyed, but not given any information.
Group Information: Households in these villages will be invited to a group presentation where they will receive the same information (sheet+script) as the ``Information'' households. Afterward, our project staff will facilitate group discussions about migrating to Nairobi by inviting prior migrants to describe their experiences and take questions, and breaking attendees into small groups to discuss their plans for migrating and potentially coordinate trips.
Guide + Information: Households in these villages will be given the same information as in the ``Information'' villages, plus will be offered to pair with a local guide in Nairobi. We will identify local guides who are established in Nairobi, willing to guide a new migrant around the city, and fit the profile desired by the household (for example, having experience in the occupation the migrant wants to work in). The guides will also speak with the prospective migrants over the phone prior to migrating, if they wish.
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After
Control. Households in these villages are surveyed, but do not receive any treatment.
Information. Sampled households in these villages received a detailed information sheet about earnings in Nairobi. When they received the sheet, they also heard a detailed script read by the enumerator explaining where the information on the sheet came from and how to interpret it.
Spillover. A random two-thirds of sampled households in these villages was given the information sheet and script, as described above. The remaining one-third was surveyed, but not given any information.
Group Information. Sampled households in these villages were invited to a group presentation where they received the same information (sheet+script) as the ``Information'' households. Our project staff then facilitated group discussions about migrating to Nairobi by inviting prior migrants to describe their experiences and take questions, and breaking attendees into small groups to discuss migrating as well as potentially coordinating trips.
Guide + Information. Sampled households in these villages were given the same information as in the ``Information'' villages, and were given an offer to be paired with an experienced resident in Nairobi who agreed to serve as a local guide. We identified local residents who are established in Nairobi and fit the profile desired by the migrant (for example, having experience in the occupation the migrant wants to work in). The guides offered to speak with the prospective migrants over the phone prior to migrating, or meet them in Nairobi once they arrive.
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Field
Intervention End Date
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Before
May 31, 2023
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After
March 31, 2023
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Field
Primary Outcomes (End Points)
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Before
Migration to Nairobi, family income.
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After
See PAP.
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Field
Primary Outcomes (Explanation)
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Before
We will measure total migration as the number of individuals in a family who have migrated to Nairobi at any point after treatment. We will measure family income by combining:
- Individual labor income over the past 30 days, elicited person-by-person
- Household enterprise profits at the origin over the past 30 days, elicited business-by-business
- Enterprise profits earned by migrants over the past 30 days, elicited migrant-by-migrant
- Estimated value of crop harvest at the origin, measured over the most recently finished season and converted to a monthly value
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After
See PAP.
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Field
Experimental Design (Public)
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Before
Our sample was selected from 5 counties in three stages using census data provided by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics. We randomly select sub-locations from the universe of sub-locations in our 5 study counties, after excluding sub-locations in the bottom 5% or top 10% of the county-specific density distribution (population per square kilometer). We randomly select one enumeration area (essentially, village) within each sampled sub-location, after excluding villages with fewer than 50 households. We randomly select approximately 30 households per village to form our experimental sample. Households were randomly chosen from an exhaustive list of households in each village which we collected prior to the experiment with the assistance of village leaders. We stratify selection by intended migration, oversampling households who report that they might send a migrant to a city within the next year.
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After
Administrative areas of Kenya are divided into counties, sub-counties, divisions, locations, and sub-locations. Our sample was selected from 5 counties in three stages using data provided by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics. We randomly select sub-locations from the universe of sub-locations in our 5 study counties, after excluding sub-locations in the bottom 5% or top 10% of the county-specific density distribution (population per square kilometer). We then randomly select one enumeration area (essentially, a village) within each sampled sub-location, after excluding villages with fewer than 50 households. We then randomly select approximately 30 households per village to form our experimental sample. Households were randomly chosen from an exhaustive list of households in each village which we collected prior to the experiment with the assistance of village leaders. We stratify selection by intended migration, oversampling households who report that they might send a migrant to a city within the next year.
Treatment to Control, Information, Spillover, Group Information, or Guide + Information was assigned at the village level, stratifying by county, the share of households in each village intending to migrate to Nairobi, and average village income. In villages assigned to Spillover, a simple random 2/3 of the household sample was assigned to receive information, while the remaining 1/3 was assigned to receive no information.
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Field
Planned Number of Observations
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Before
16,800 households
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After
Approx. 16,800 households
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Field
Secondary Outcomes (End Points)
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Before
Perceived own earnings in Nairobi, uncertainty about own earning in Nairobi, planned migration to Nairobi, coordinated migration, well-being, aspirations for children.
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After
See PAP.
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Field
Secondary Outcomes (Explanation)
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Before
Coordinated migration includes traveling together, residing together in the destination, searching for jobs together, or seeking advice from one another prior to migrating. Well-being will be constructed as an index comprising family income, access to four improved amenities (piped water, electricity, improved toilet, improved cooking fuel), the presence of financial worries, and self-reported happiness for the primary respondent.
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After
See PAP.
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