Labor supply and productivity in times of environmental shocks: the case of arsenic contamination in Bangladesh

Last registered on September 20, 2023

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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

Labor supply and productivity in times of environmental shocks: the case of arsenic contamination in Bangladesh

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0011985

Initial registration date

September 14, 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

September 20, 2023, 10:27 AM EDT

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

Locations

Country

Bangladesh

Region

Primary Investigator

Name

Shyamal Chowdhury

Affiliation

University of Sydney

Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name

Klaus F. Zimmermann

PI Affiliation

Global Labor Organization

Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status

Completed

Start date

2014-02-01

End date

2016-12-31

Keywords

Environment & Energy, Finance & Microfinance, Health, Labor, Welfare

Additional Keywords

Mental Health, Subjective Well-Being, Drinking Water, Arsenic, Bangladesh

JEL code(s)

C93, D14, G21, I12, I31, O12, Q53

Secondary IDs

Prior work

This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.

Abstract

The unsafe level of arsenic contamination in drinking water is a global phenomenon. However, Bangladesh ranks first in terms of magnitude among the four major arsenic calamities reported so far. We conducted a randomized controlled trial in Bangladesh to examine the extent to which a public information campaign, similar to the one conducted by the Bangladesh Government, is effective at reducing households' exposure to arsenic.

The campaign involved the free examination of all tube wells (TWs), which are the primary sources of drinking water, for arsenic. The TWs were then labeled as either safe or unsafe based on the level of arsenic found in the water. We added an additional layer to the government campaign: in two-thirds of our study villages, we provided information at the household level regarding the effects of unsafe levels of arsenic in TW water on health and well-being.

In addition to the household-level information, approximately in half of the villages, we elicited households' willingness-to-pay (WTP) for a water arsenic filter. To address liquidity constraints that may prevent upfront payments, in half of the randomly assigned villages where WTP was elicited, households were offered the option to purchase the filter on credit provided by local microfinance institutions (MFIs).

We measured households' health, including symptoms linked to arsenic poisoning, subjective well-being, and their WTP for a water arsenic filter. Additionally, we collected a comprehensive set of demographic and socio-economic measures, including poverty status.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Chowdhury, Shyamal and Klaus F. Zimmermann. 2023. "Labor supply and productivity in times of environmental shocks: the case of arsenic contamination in Bangladesh." AEA RCT Registry. September 20. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.11985-1.0

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

We have four groups of households. All groups received information on their well, however, only three groups received information on the health consequences of drinking contaminated water. Additionally, two groups were offered an arsenic water filter either in cash or in credit 'Experimental Design' Section.

Intervention Start Date

2015-01-31

Intervention End Date

2015-08-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

Subjective well-being, willingness-to-pay, cognitive development, marriage market payments, labour supply, income, consumption expenditures

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

We have three treatments and one control group, consisting of 33, 33, 33, and 50 villages, respectively (for details, see Section "Intervention" above).

Experimental Design Details

Randomization Method

A combination of coin flip and in office by a computer.

Randomization Unit

Two-step randomization: first, villages were assigned to treatment and control groups. Second, for some treatments, households within the treatment villages were selected randomly for additional treatments described in the Intervention Section.

Was the treatment clustered?

Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

150 villages

Sample size: planned number of observations

4,500 households drawn from 150 villages.

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

1. Control group: 50 clusters, 30 households from each cluster, 1,500 households in total
2. Information treatment: 33 clusters, 30 households from each cluster, 990 households in total
3. Information treatment plus arsenic filter in cash: 33 clusters, 30 households from each cluster, 990 households in total
4. Information treatment plus arsenic filter on credit: 33 clusters, 30 households from each cluster, 990 households in total

Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)

Supporting Documents and Materials

IRB