Impact of Internet Connectivity in Rural Areas on Labor Outcomes

Last registered on February 05, 2025

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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

Impact of Internet Connectivity in Rural Areas on Labor Outcomes

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0015303

Initial registration date

January 30, 2025

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

February 05, 2025, 8:13 AM EST

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

Locations

Country

Brazil

Region

Pará

Primary Investigator

Name

Alipio Ferreira

Affiliation

Southern Methodist University

Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name

Luiz Felipe Fontes

PI Affiliation

Insper

Contact Investigator

PI Name

Beatrice Fontenelle-Weber

PI Affiliation

Insper

Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status

On going

Start date

2024-06-01

End date

2025-11-01

Keywords

Agriculture, Education, Environment & Energy, Labor, Welfare

Additional Keywords

Connectivity, Internet

JEL code(s)

O13, R23, J01, L86

Secondary IDs

Prior work

This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.

Abstract

This project consists of a randomized field experiment designed to assess whether the provision of connectivity equipment and digital training has the potential to equip communities in the Amazon with low access to internet infrastructure with the skills needed to thrive in the labor market, as well as to better comply with environmental regulations. To do so, we partnered with an NGO with decades of experience in implementing similar programs. In 2024, the NGO randomly provided computers and internet training to households in a municipality in the Brazilian Amazon. In 2025, we will collect data on the control and treatment households to evaluate the impact of the intervention on labor market outcomes, education, and other quality-of-life measures.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Ferreira, Alipio, Beatrice Fontenelle-Weber and Luiz Felipe Fontes. 2025. "Impact of Internet Connectivity in Rural Areas on Labor Outcomes." AEA RCT Registry. February 05. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.15303-1.0

Sponsors & Partners

Partner

Name

Mais Unidos

Type

ngo

URL

https://www.maisunidos.org

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

The participants will receive computers as a donation, as well as 12 months of optic fiber internet connection and courses on digital training, which will start right after the computers are installed.

There are three modules of training. The first one, on digital literacy, is mandatory. The second one, on education and employability and entrepreneurial education, is elective and encompasses different areas that can be of interest to participants.

Intervention Start Date

2024-06-01

Intervention End Date

2024-11-01

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

Labor market participation, income, general life satisfaction, use of internet, environmental compliance, labor market occupation.

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Income will be measured in two ways. Directly, by asking participants to report their income; and indirectly, by asking participants about ownership of durable goods in their household.

Environmental compliance will be measured by asking participants whether they used the internet to enroll or update in the Rural Agricultural Registry (a mandatory step in Brazilian environmental regulation).

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Satisfaction with the program, expectations about future economic situation, overall impressions about the impact of the internet on day to day life.

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Subjects in communities in Juruti were selected and randomized into treatment directly by our partners. The draw was stratified per community and proportional to the number of valid registrations and available computers. The number of households selected to participate in the program had to be less than or equal to half the number of registrations considered valid and classified.

For eligibility, households must meet the following criteria:

a. Have a literate person aged 18 (eighteen) years or older as the head of the household;
b. Provide proof of residence in the selected community.
c. Have at least one person aged between 15 and 35 residing in the household;
d. Have a per capita income of up to R$ 1,000.00 (one thousand reais);
e. Commit to a minimum of 4 hours for participation in computer literacy training and engage family members in online training offered by the program;
f. Not have their residence connected to the internet via fiber optics in the three months prior to the beginning of the program.

Our partner faces budget restrictions that do not allow them to provide the service for all eligible households, and they found randomization to be the fairest way to select them. Moreover, they will collect data from both treated and control groups. Our work as researchers will be to analyze the data they collected.

Follow-up interviews will be conducted 8 months after the implementation.

Experimental Design Details

Not available

Randomization Method

The randomization was done by a computer.

Randomization Unit

Household level.

Was the treatment clustered?