Performance Contracts and Time Preferences: Individuals and Groups

Last registered on September 27, 2022

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Performance Contracts and Time Preferences: Individuals and Groups
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0010065
Initial registration date
September 13, 2022

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
September 27, 2022, 11:07 AM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

Region

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
Heidelberg University

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2022-09-04
End date
2023-07-30
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
Intertemporal choices - decisions for which costs and benefits are spread out over time - are an important part pf regular decision-making for households, policymakers and managers. They are relevant to decisions about consumption, and savings and investment, which are among the most important choices made by economic agents. The experimental design consists of two stages that we will conduct in collaboration with the Department of Health, Punjab (Pakistan). In the first stage, we will elicit Lady Health Workers (LHWs) discounting parameters using the Convex Time Budget (CTB) technique. In the second stage, after assigning tailored contracts to LHWs, we will test how these tailored contracts perform. In our setup, we propose and test intertemporal contracts for two types of policymakers: Leontief and maximizer.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Chaudhry, Zain. 2022. "Performance Contracts and Time Preferences: Individuals and Groups." AEA RCT Registry. September 27. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.10065-1.0
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2022-09-15
Intervention End Date
2023-06-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Number of households successfully contacted/delivered information
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We will conduct eight treatment rounds, in which we vary the $R$, the total number of tasks, the contracts and whether individual or group work is undertaken. We list these rounds below.



Round 1: Preference Elicitation 1

We measure preferences and vary R in 0.4...1.5 for individuals.

Round 2: Preference Elicitation 2

We measure preferences and vary R 0.5...1.5 as well as the total number of tasks, m = 15-57 for individuals.

Round 3:

Using the elicited preferences, we created tailored Leontief contracts for individuals.

Round 4:

Using the elicited preferences, we created tailored Maximizer contracts for individuals.

Round 5:

We measure preferences and vary R 0.4...1.5 for groups.

\item Round 6:

We measure preferences and vary R 0.5...1.5 as well as the total number of tasks, m = 15-57 for groups.

Round 7:

Using the elicited preferences, we created tailored Leontief contracts for groups.

Round 8:

Using the elicited preferences, we created tailored Maximizer contracts for groups.


Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomization done in office by a computer
Randomization Unit
Individuals or groups depending on the round. In each round, we will randomly choose which individual will perform what task. They will all have made different choices (based on different task rates for example) and we will randomly pick one of those choices up and compare across individuals.
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
441 individuals
Sample size: planned number of observations
More than 10,000
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
441
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Lahore University of Management Sciences
IRB Approval Date
2022-09-30
IRB Approval Number
LUMS-IRB/20210108/DF-FWA-00019408
Analysis Plan

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Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials