Evidence on the Pollution Under Control Certification in Delhi, India

Last registered on May 02, 2025
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Evidence on the Pollution Under Control Certification in Delhi, India
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0015493
Initial registration date
April 28, 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
May 02, 2025, 5:51 AM EDT

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

Locations

Country
India
Region
Delhi

Primary Investigator

Name
Jeanne Sorin
Affiliation
University of Chicago
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Anant Sudarshan
PI Affiliation
University of Warwick
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Michael Greenstone
PI Affiliation
University of Chicago
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2025-05-15
End date
2025-07-31
Keywords
Environment & Energy
Additional Keywords
City
JEL code(s)
O12, O18, Q52, Q53
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
Exposure to air pollution poses severe health risks, especially in megacities like Delhi where pollution levels are persistently high. To curb vehicular emissions in India - a potentially significant source of air pollution - vehicles must pass emission tests to obtain Pollution Under Control Certificates (PUCC). While the effectiveness of this program relies on accurate emission tests, anecdotal evidence suggests that test operators may engage in lenient behaviors increasing the probability vehicles successfully obtain pass certificates despite high emission levels. In this project, we design a monitoring intervention to examine whether test operators engage in behaviors leading to artificially high pass rates during these examinations, and subsequent overestimation of the PUCC effectiveness at curbing air pollution.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Greenstone, Michael, Jeanne Sorin and Anant Sudarshan. 2025. "Evidence on the Pollution Under Control Certification in Delhi, India." AEA RCT Registry. May 02. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.15493-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention (Hidden)
Intervention Start Date
2025-05-15
Intervention End Date
2025-07-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
- probability to Pass the PUC test
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Randomly selected PUC centers are "treated" by having enumerators visiting them for half day, observing and recording test-related activities.
Experimental Design Details
We design the intervention as follow
- 90 test centers are selected among the universe of test centers in Delhi. We randomly select a representative sample of centers after excluding centers with at least 300 tests per months.
- During the length of the intervention (26 working days, split in 1/2 days), survey enumerators are sent to test centers to observe the realization of the tests, under an official mandate from the Delhi Department of Transportation.
- Every 1/2 day, one sixth of the sample (15 centers) is in the treated group (presence of a monitoring survey enumerator) and the rest of the sample (75 centers) is in the control group (no monitoring survey enumerator).

Treated centers are randomly selected among eligible centers.
Randomization Method
Randomization done in office by a computer
Randomization Unit
Center-half-day level
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
90 centers
Sample size: planned number of observations
20*52*90
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
4,680 center half days (780 in treatment, the rest in control).
93,600 vehicles tested (15,600 in treatment, the rest in control).
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
IRB Approval Date
IRB Approval Number
Analysis Plan

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