Applying Behavioral Science to Budget Requests and Budget Assessments in Japanese Local Governments

Last registered on November 15, 2023
View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Applying Behavioral Science to Budget Requests and Budget Assessments in Japanese Local Governments
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0012438
Initial registration date
November 03, 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
November 15, 2023, 12:56 PM EST

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

Locations

There is information in this trial unavailable to the public. Use the button below to request access.

Request Information

Primary Investigator

Name
Shusaku Sasaki
Affiliation
Osaka University
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Makoto Kuroki
PI Affiliation
Yokohama City University
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2023-10-26
End date
2027-03-31
Keywords
Behavior, Finance & Microfinance, Governance, Health
Additional Keywords
Health, HPV Vaccine, Budget Request, Budget Assessment, Budget Officer, Local Government, Accounting Information, Nudge, Social Comparison, Behavioral Economics, Survey Experiment, Japan
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
We conduct a field-based survey experiment toward 1,741 local governments in Japan. In the experiment, for each local government, we ask both of staffs at the department of health and budget officers at the department of finance to answer the survey. We randomly divide the local governments into four groups. We set in the survey a hypothetical question, where the survey respondents are asked to consider conducting HPV vaccine promotion programs. The four groups consist of three treatment groups and one control group. The three treatment groups are A) matching grant, B) social comparison nudge, and C) both. After the question, we ask staffs at the department of health to decide how much to apply for the budget, and we also ask budget officers at the department of finance how much to assess the budget at. Furthermore, we investigate whether the effects are heterogeneous by local governments’ and staffs’ characteristics.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Kuroki, Makoto and Shusaku Sasaki. 2023. "Applying Behavioral Science to Budget Requests and Budget Assessments in Japanese Local Governments." AEA RCT Registry. November 15. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.12438-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
We randomly assign local governments to one of a control group and three treatment groups. The three treatment groups are A) matching grant, B) social comparison nudge, and C) both.
Intervention Start Date
2023-11-13
Intervention End Date
2023-12-03

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Budget request or budget assessment
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Answers to questions for manipulation check (Subjective evaluation for outcomes, and how to refer outcomes in making the decision)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We randomly assign local governments to one of a control group and three treatment groups. The three treatment groups are A) matching grant, B) social comparison nudge, and C) both.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Stratified randomization based on 4 types of Japanese local governments (Administrative Districts; Ordinance Cities; Cities; Towns and Villages)
Randomization Unit
The department of health and the department of finance at local governments
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
1,741 for each department at local governments
Sample size: planned number of observations
1,741 individual staffs for each department at local governments
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
For each department, 435 individual staffs in the control group, 435 individual staffs in the treatment group A (matching grant), 435 individual staffs in the treatment group B (social comparison nudge), and 436 individual staffs in the treatment group C (both).

These are the number of mailings to randomly assigned local governments, and the sample size finally collected will be smaller than the number of these mailings.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Hakkei Campus Research Ethics Committees, Yokohama City University IRB
IRB Approval Date
2023-10-26
IRB Approval Number
Hachi2023-13
IRB Name
Center for Infectious Disease Education and Research, Osaka University IRB
IRB Approval Date
2023-10-10
IRB Approval Number
2023CRER1010
Analysis Plan