Effect of air cleaners on labor supply and productivity: Experimental evidence from Bogotá

Last registered on February 24, 2025
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Effect of air cleaners on labor supply and productivity: Experimental evidence from Bogotá
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0011061
Initial registration date
March 07, 2023

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
March 13, 2023, 3:03 PM EDT

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

Last updated
February 24, 2025, 5:31 PM EST

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

Locations

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Primary Investigator

Name
Allen Blackman
Affiliation
Inter-American Development Bank
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Bridget Hoffmann
PI Affiliation
Inter-American Development Bank
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Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2025-02-18
End date
2027-07-31
Keywords
Environment & Energy, Firms & Productivity, Labor
Additional Keywords
air pollution, productivity, labor supply
JEL code(s)
Q52 Q53 J24 C93
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
To identify the effect of air cleaners on labor supply and productivity, we conduct a randomized controlled trial in Bogotá, Colombia, a city with poor air quality, that entails installing air cleaners in a randomly selected subsample call center work rooms. We use a series of sequential experiments to help disentangle the effects of air cleaners through air quality, air circulation, and psychological channels.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Blackman, Allen and Bridget Hoffmann. 2025. "Effect of air cleaners on labor supply and productivity: Experimental evidence from Bogotá." AEA RCT Registry. February 24. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.11061-2.0
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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
The intervention entails installing air cleaners in the sample work rooms that are randomly assigned to the treatment.
Intervention Start Date
2025-02-25
Intervention End Date
2027-07-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Air quality
• mean pm2.5 (ug/m3). Average daily PM2.5 concentration.
• max pm2.5 (ug/m3). Maximum daily PM2.5 concentration.

Labor supply
• absenteeism. A binary dummy variable equal to one if the employee was absent from work.

Labor productivity
• excess break. A binary dummy variable equal to one if the employee exceeded their scheduled break by five or more minutes.
• calls per hour. The number of calls initiated per hour.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
Air quality will be measured at the work room-level using air quality monitors. Labor supply and labor productivity will be measured at the worker-level (versus work room-level) using administrative data provided by the participating call center firms.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Labor supply
• turnover. A binary dummy variable equal to one if the worker’s employment was terminated.

Labor productivity
• sales per hour. The average number of sales per hour, used for employees engaged in sales.
• collection agreements per hour. The average number of debt collection agreements per hour, used for employees tasked with debt collection.
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)
Labor supply and labor productivity will be measured at the worker-level (versus work room-level) using administrative data provided by the participating call center firms.

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We will install air cleaners in a randomly selected subsample of 30 work rooms in four call center firms. Collectively these sample rooms house more than 3,000 employees. We will use a series of sequential experiments to help disentangle the effects of air cleaners on air quality, through air circulation, and psychological channels. We will use data from an original survey of workers to, among other things, assess treatment effect heterogeneity.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Randomization done in office by computer.
Randomization Unit
Room
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
The sample is comprised of 30 rooms (clusters) in four firms.
Sample size: planned number of observations
The 30 sample rooms house approximately 3,000 workers.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
In each of the three experiments, approximately one-half of the clusters will be assigned to the treatment group (either T1, T2, or T3) and one-half to the pure control group.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Minimum detectible effects are based on data from a pilot experiment conducted in two of the four participating firms absenteeism: –5.4 percentage points = 32 percent of the control group mean; 18 percent of control goup standard deviation pm2.5: –2.7 mg/m3 = 12 percent of control group mean; 76 percent of control group standard deviatio
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Innovations for Poverty Action Human Subjects Committee
IRB Approval Date
2023-10-17
IRB Approval Number
16639
Analysis Plan

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