Identifying and Easing Constraints on Microenterprise Location within Kampala, Uganda

Last registered on March 22, 2023

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Identifying and Easing Constraints on Microenterprise Location within Kampala, Uganda
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0010609
Initial registration date
December 08, 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
December 13, 2022, 11:20 PM EST

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

Last updated
March 22, 2023, 6:40 PM EDT

Last updated is the most recent time when changes to the trial's registration were published.

Locations

Region

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
Tufts University

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2022-10-19
End date
2024-12-31
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
I conduct a field experiment to assess the effect of business location for microentrepreneurs. I relieve liquidity and information constraints (separately, and simultaneously) on business mobility and measure the effect on business outcomes. I investigate whether relieving these constraints enables business owners to move to parts of the city that are on average more profitable than their current locations and whether they realize income gains upon relocation. Specifically, the experiment randomly allocates conditional and unconditional cash grants of equivalent value, where the conditional grant is available to those microentrepreneurs moving from their current business locations to alternative locations. Both the conditional and unconditional cash treatment will be cross-randomized with an information treatment that provides business owners with information about city parishes that are on average more profitable than their own.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Pelnik, Carolyn. 2023. "Identifying and Easing Constraints on Microenterprise Location within Kampala, Uganda." AEA RCT Registry. March 22. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.10609-3.0
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
A conditional cash grant arm will allocate roughly $2 per day to any entrepreneur operating their business 3 kilometers (km) or more from their "base" (pre-intervention) business location over an approximately 10-day intervention period. The 3 kilometer conditionality is based on road travel distance. An unconditional cash grant arm will allocate the equivalent amount per day for the same number of days (i.e., is equivalent in the maximum transfer amount). Both will be allocated via mobile money; the conditional cash grant will be disbursed after verifying the entrepreneur's new location, and the unconditional cash grant will be automatically disbursed each morning of the intervention period. Those in the conditional cash grant treatment have the option to take-up the CCT on some days but not others. An entrepreneur in the CCT arm may relocate, for example, solely on days 2 and 7 of the intervention period, and receive the transfer upon verification that their business is in operation 3 km or more from their base location while not moving (and not receiving a transfer) on the other days of the intervention period. A control group will not receive any grant. All three arms are cross-randomized with an information intervention that provides entrepreneurs with information about parishes in the city which are on average more profitable for businesses in their sector than their base parish. Specifically, respondents in the information arm are told about the average profit levels in a subset of exogenously selected parishes (among those that are, on average, more profitable for businesses in their sector than their own).
Intervention Start Date
2023-03-23
Intervention End Date
2023-06-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Business location and mobility, knowledge of profit dispersion across city, business earnings (revenue and income), business investment, inventory stock, non-inventory asset stock, savings (on mobile money account and otherwise), productivity
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
More details on primary outcomes are provided in the pre-analysis plan.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary outcomes are listed in the pre-analysis plan.
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Firms will be randomly allocated to the control, conditional cash grant group, or unconditional cash grant group. Each of these arms is cross-randomized with information provision, where firms are given information about other city parishes which are on average more profitable for businesses in their sector than their own.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Randomization done in office by a computer
Randomization Unit
Firm
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
2880 firms
Sample size: planned number of observations
2880 firms
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
480 firms in control, 480 firms in information only, 600 firms in conditional cash grant only, 600 firms in conditional cash grant with information, 360 firms in unconditional cash grant only, 360 firms in unconditional cash grant with information
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Tufts University
IRB Approval Date
2022-07-08
IRB Approval Number
1770
Analysis Plan

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