The Impacts of Political Donations on Public Procurement in Colombia

Last registered on June 18, 2024
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
The Impacts of Political Donations on Public Procurement in Colombia
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0013709
Initial registration date
May 29, 2024

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
May 30, 2024, 5:46 AM EDT

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

Last updated
June 18, 2024, 1:52 PM EDT

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

Locations

Country
Colombia
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Juan Felipe Ladino
Affiliation
Stockholm University
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Saad Gulzar
PI Affiliation
Princeton University
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PI Name
Juan Felipe Riaño
PI Affiliation
Georgetown University
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Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2024-05-13
End date
2024-08-31
Keywords
Governance
Additional Keywords
Public procurement, Political campaigns, Kickbacks
JEL code(s)
D72, H57, P00
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
We explore the relationship between political donations and the allocation of public procurement contracts across multiple local elections in Colombia. By linking the universe of public contractors and the mandatory report of political donations by individuals and firms, our results demonstrate a long-term distortion in the contract allocation process attributable to political donations. We then introduce a novel experimental approach, to study how new mayors strategically react to different warnings about increased scrutiny of contracts given to their donors.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Gulzar, Saad, Juan Felipe Ladino and Juan Felipe Riaño. 2024. "The Impacts of Political Donations on Public Procurement in Colombia." AEA RCT Registry. June 18. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.13709-1.1
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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2024-05-13
Intervention End Date
2024-08-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Probability of donors receiving a contract, Value of contracts given to donors
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
Probability of donors receiving a contract: dummy variable equal to 1 if donor received a public contract, 0 otherwise
Value of contracts given to donors: continuous variable for the value of contract given to donors. Equal to 0 if no contract has been received

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We randomize across municipalities a warning elected mayors will receive.

Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Randomization was done in Stata
Randomization Unit
I. Municipal level randomization: municipalities
II. Donor level randomization: donors within municipalities
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
876 municipalities
Sample size: planned number of observations
8,560 donors (roughly 9-10 donor per municipality on average) per month
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
1. Control group: 108 municipalities
2. Placebo group: 109 municipalities
3. Treatment group: 659 municipalities
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Institutional Review Board Princeton University
IRB Approval Date
2024-05-01
IRB Approval Number
IRB 16839
Analysis Plan