Voters' awareness of social insurance programs impacts electoral candidature: Experimental evidence from India

Last registered on August 06, 2024
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Voters' awareness of social insurance programs impacts electoral candidature: Experimental evidence from India
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0014091
Initial registration date
July 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
August 06, 2024, 10:58 AM EDT

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

Locations

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Primary Investigator

Name
Clément Imbert
Affiliation
University of Warwick
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Abhijit Banerjee
PI Affiliation
MIT
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PI Name
Esther Duflo
PI Affiliation
MIT
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PI Name
Rohini Pande
PI Affiliation
Yale
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Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2009-10-01
End date
2024-12-01
Keywords
Governance
Additional Keywords
Elections, Candidate entry, Information campaign
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
We evaluate the effects of a pre-election voter awareness campaign (PEVAC) conducted before the 2010 local elections in rural Rajasthan (India). Through door-to-door canvassing and a theater play, the campaign informed voters about the responsibilities of the council head in implementing a large public workfare program (MGNREGS), and about average MGNREGS spending and employment provision per GP in the district. We study the effect of the campaign on entry, exit and electoral success of incumbents and their family, as well as on the representation of disadvantaged groups that typically participate in MGNREGS (lower castes and women) in 2010 and 2015 elections.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Banerjee, Abhijit et al. 2024. "Voters' awareness of social insurance programs impacts electoral candidature: Experimental evidence from India." AEA RCT Registry. August 06. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.14091-1.0
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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
We partnered with a local NGO Prayatn, which had previous experience running awareness campaigns for the government to design a campaign that was broadly similar to those run by other NGO and state-government campaigns. In the three weeks prior to the election, we worked with Prayatn to implement a pre-election awareness campaign (or PEVAC), which used calendars, door-to-door canvassing and street theater to convey information about the Sarpanch's responsibility in providing public goods and access to MGNREGS employment. The theater performance was the cornerstone of the campaign and conducted by a troupe of street theater actors who
drew from a vast repertoire of songs written in Rajasthani dialects, including songs about elections
for ``get-out-the vote'' campaigns, and songs about the right to employment for the launch of the MGNREGS.
Intervention Start Date
2010-01-03
Intervention End Date
2010-01-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Probability that the incumbent, his/her spouse, and any other family member runs, their voteshare and their probability of winning.
Number of candidates, numbers of challengers (excluding incumbent).
Fraction of female challengers and low caste challengers, and voteshares for women and low caste challengers.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
All these outcomes are measured for 2010 elections, and then again in 2015 for the next electoral round

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Our sample is drawn from three relatively poor districts: Bharatpur, Dholpur and Karauli. We focus on the 382 (50%) Gram Panchayats (GP) that were not reserved for women in 2010 elections. Our intervention was implemented in a randomly selected set of 119 GPs.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Randomization done by a computer using Stata.
Randomization Unit
Gram Panchayat (GP)
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
382 Gram Panchayat
Sample size: planned number of observations
382 Gram Panchayat
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
119 treatment GP and 263 control GP
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
MIT
IRB Approval Date
2009-12-01
IRB Approval Number
COUHES Protocol 091003477
Analysis Plan