Understanding barriers to diversification in response to climate change: evidence from Central and Northern Kenya

Last registered on August 29, 2024
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Understanding barriers to diversification in response to climate change: evidence from Central and Northern Kenya
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0013758
Initial registration date
August 24, 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
August 28, 2024, 3:22 PM EDT

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

Last updated
August 29, 2024, 5:51 AM EDT

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

Locations

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Primary Investigator

Name
Carolina Kansikas
Affiliation
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2024-08-23
End date
2027-01-01
Keywords
Behavior, Environment & Energy, Finance & Microfinance
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial is based on or builds upon one or more prior RCTs.
Abstract
I study barriers to diversification in response to climate change among pastoralists in Central and Northern Kenya.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Kansikas, Carolina. 2024. "Understanding barriers to diversification in response to climate change: evidence from Central and Northern Kenya." AEA RCT Registry. August 29. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.13758-1.2
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
n/a.
Intervention Start Date
2024-08-23
Intervention End Date
2025-02-01

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
(i) preferences in the incentivized lottery experiment (as a binary variable, livestock vs. other option), and impact of public treatment on preference,
(ii) difference between own choice and beliefs, both alone and in visibility vs. private treatment,
(iii) choice and wtp to change to the alternative under two alternative visibility conditions (‘conformity’ and ‘public win’)
Survey section:
(iv) adaptation and portfolio diversification choices – heterogeneity based on intensity of exposure to climate shocks and elicited beliefs,
The specification to understand treatment effects for the visibility treatment may include controls, for instance for gender. Randomization balance will be checked.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
(i) difference between private responses and perceptions of others elicited in Krupka & Weber (2013) style coordination game questions,
(ii) timing of livestock sales from transaction data (wet vs. dry season), coincidence with household expenditure times (e.g. school fees),
(iii) perception of prices in wet vs. dry seasons (difference with actual prices collected from market data),
(iv) beliefs about returns to alternative saving instruments and occupations,
(v) redistribution norms (types of assets) and in-group bias,
(vi) beliefs – impact of recent season quality vs. intensity of drought exposure.
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The experiment assigns individuals to make an incentivized preference statement where they choose one of two assets under alternative visibility conditions. Around half of the participants are randomly assigned to a public treatment condition where their choice is shown to others. After the choice, they are asked questions about alternative visibility conditions which exploit the timing of the choice and the features of the choice that are made visible to others. The experiment is complemented by a detailed survey on adaptation measures and diversification margins, market behavior and transaction data, beliefs, and social norms.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Based on digit of participant ID, assigned in random sequence.
Randomization Unit
Individual.
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
N/A.
Sample size: planned number of observations
The aim is for 788, which may be increased depending on budget constraints due to variable field conditions. The exact number should approximate this but depends on field constraints - enumerators are hired by the day.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
394 Treatment, 394 Control.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
5 p.p. based on prior.
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
HSSREC University of Warwick
IRB Approval Date
2024-06-13
IRB Approval Number
140/23-24
Analysis Plan