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Benchmarking development programs: a preference-based approach

Last registered on June 23, 2016

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Benchmarking development programs: a preference-based approach
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0001371
Initial registration date
June 23, 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
June 23, 2016, 11:29 AM EDT

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

Locations

Region

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
Busara Center for Behavioral Economics

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2016-06-23
End date
2017-02-28
Secondary IDs
Abstract
Hundreds of billions of dollars are spent each year on aid programs. In 2014, for example,
OECD countries provided USD 135 billion in official development assistance (OECD,
2014) and US charitable giving to international programs exceeds USD 20 billion (Reuters,
2012). Beyond this, developing country governments allocate substantial sums to programs
intended to benefit the poor and spur development. These billions of dollars are allocated
across a wide variety of programs such as infrastructure, education, health, agriculture and
direct assistance (e.g., subsidized goods, food aid, livestock transfers and cash transfers). A
fundamental problem, impacting the hundreds of millions of individuals reached by aid, is
how best to allocate spending across programs.Yet it is incredibly difficult to decide how to
allocate resources across programs. An important input, among others, into the allocation
decision is how much recipients value particular forms of aid relative to the cost of providing
that aid, including both the value of goods and services received by beneficiaries and the
overhead cost of providing those goods and services.

A central aim of this study is to develop a replicable methodology to rapidly and efficiently
estimate the value of different types of aid to recipients. This information can be used to
determine whether a particular form of aid is valued more highly than its cost and to assess
the relative value of alternative uses of aid funding.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Shapiro, Jeremy. 2016. "Benchmarking development programs: a preference-based approach." AEA RCT Registry. June 23. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.1371-1.0
Former Citation
Shapiro, Jeremy. 2016. "Benchmarking development programs: a preference-based approach." AEA RCT Registry. June 23. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/1371/history/8975
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2016-06-30
Intervention End Date
2016-07-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Values of aid programs relative to costs. Consistency of choice over time.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
See attachment.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Offsite randomization
Randomization Unit
Individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
800
Sample size: planned number of observations
800
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
200
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
KEMRI
IRB Approval Date
2016-06-15
IRB Approval Number
531
Analysis Plan

Analysis Plan Documents

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials