Paycheck Plus NYC

Last registered on December 20, 2024
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Paycheck Plus NYC
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0001144
Initial registration date
April 20, 2016

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
April 20, 2016, 5:55 PM EDT

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

Last updated
December 20, 2024, 2:15 PM EST

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

Locations

Country
United States of America
Region
New York City

Primary Investigator

Name
Cynthia Miller
Affiliation
MDRC
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Lawrence Katz
PI Affiliation
Harvard University
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2013-07-30
End date
2018-06-30
Keywords
Labor, Welfare
Additional Keywords
tax credit
JEL code(s)
H23, H24
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
The gap between high- and low-income Americans has widened dramatically over the past 30 years, and men without high school degrees saw their earnings fall by 20 percent between 1990 and 2013. Earnings for women with similar levels of education fell by 12 percent. One proposal to address this erosion of income for low-wage workers has been to expand the federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), which supplements the earnings of families by as much as $6,000 a year. But the federal EITC for single tax filers, which is capped at a maximum annual payment of only $487, is much less generous and as a result less effective at increasing employment and reducing poverty. The Paycheck Plus demonstration is testing the effects of a more generous EITC-like earnings supplement for low-income single adults in New York City, in which the credit for workers without children is increased to $2,000 and extended to provide benefits to workers earning up to $30,000 per year, with the maximum payment being made to those with earnings between $6,667 and $18,000. The pilot test in New York City includes about 6,000 participants, with 3,000 eligible to receive the expanded credit and 3,000 forming a control group.
External Link(s)
Final report
Interim report

Registration Citation

Citation
Katz, Lawrence and Cynthia Miller. 2024. "Paycheck Plus NYC." AEA RCT Registry. December 20. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.1144-5.0
Former Citation
Katz, Lawrence and Cynthia Miller. 2024. "Paycheck Plus NYC." AEA RCT Registry. December 20. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/1144/history/246332
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
The evaluation will test the potential impact of an enhanced Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) on income, employment, and earnings for participating single adults. Paycheck Plus will simulate an enhanced EITC but will not offer an actual tax credit nor operate through the city, state, or federal tax systems. The pilot program will mimic the income tax filing process by having participants present their completed annual tax forms to claim the enhanced credit.

The demonstration will offer up to $2,000 a year over a three-year period to participants with earnings of up to nearly $30,000 per year, with the maximum payment being made to those with earnings between $6,667 and $18,000. The pilot test in New York City includes about 6,000 participants, with 3,000 eligible to receive the expanded credit and 3,000 forming a control group.

Enrollment in New York City was conducted at Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) sites across the city staffed by the project’s operations partner, Food Bank For New York City (FBNYC). A range of other agencies also served as recruitment and referral partners, with FBNYC staff members either conducting enrollment there or referring eligible participants to one of the VITA sites.
Intervention (Hidden)
Intervention Start Date
2013-10-15
Intervention End Date
2017-06-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Income, employment, earnings (inadvertently omitted from first registry submission), poverty, child-support payments, criminal-justice-system involvement, and family formation.

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The evaluation of Paycheck Plus uses a random assignment research design, with a program group who is eligible to receive the expanded credit and a control group who is not. Individuals in the program group in each city will be eligible for the credit payments for three years. In New York, individuals can receive the credit for earnings in tax years 2014, 2015, and 2016. In Atlanta, individuals can receive the credit for earnings in tax years 2016, 2017, and 2018. Both research groups in each city will be tracked for up to four years to determine the effects of the expanded credit on income, earnings, poverty, child-support payments, criminal-justice-system involvement, and family formation.

Enrollment in New York City was conducted at Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) sites across the city staffed by the project’s operations partner, Food Bank For New York City (FBNYC). A range of other agencies also served as recruitment and referral partners, with FBNYC staff members either conducting enrollment there or referring eligible participants to one of the VITA sites. Enrollment in Atlanta is being conducted by that city’s operations partner, United Way of Greater Atlanta, with assistance from several other agencies and referral partners.

Data sources will include a baseline survey, a participant survey at 32 months after random assignment, tax data from participating VITA sites, and administrative records covering unemployment insurance earnings and child-support payments and orders.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomization conducted by enrollment staff via computer.
Randomization Unit
individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
6,000 individuals
Sample size: planned number of observations
6,000 individuals
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
3,000 individuals control, 3,000 individuals eligible to receive expanded treatment
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials

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IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
MDRC
IRB Approval Date
2013-09-30
IRB Approval Number
003522
Analysis Plan

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
Yes
Intervention Completion Date
June 01, 2017, 12:00 +00:00
Data Collection Complete
Yes
Data Collection Completion Date
Final Sample Size: Number of Clusters (Unit of Randomization)
Was attrition correlated with treatment status?
No
Final Sample Size: Total Number of Observations
Final Sample Size (or Number of Clusters) by Treatment Arms
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials

Description
Results Report
Citation
Miller, Cynthia, Lawrence F. Katz, Gilda Azurdia, Adam Isen, Caroline B. Schultz, and Kali Aloisi. "Boosting the earned income tax credit for singles: Final impact findings from the paycheck plus demonstration in New York City." New York: MDRC (2018).
URL
https://www.mdrc.org/sites/default/files/PaycheckPlus_FinalReport_0.pdf