Solar demand with credit

Last registered on July 11, 2025
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Solar demand with credit
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0015893
Initial registration date
April 27, 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
July 11, 2025, 5:33 AM EDT

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

Locations

Country
Ghana
Region
Eastern Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Jiayue Zhang
Affiliation
Brown University
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Yunyu Shu
PI Affiliation
Brown University
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
Withdrawn
Start date
2025-05-01
End date
2025-10-31
Keywords
Environment & Energy, Finance & Microfinance, Firms & Productivity
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
This project studies the impact of embedding partial refund options in credit purchase contracts for productive assets, which provide a partial guarantee in case of uncertainty in the usefulness of the product and uncertainty in income. In the experiment, we focus on credit purchases of solar lights by small business owners in Ghana, and compare traditional down payment or repayment subsidy schemes to a contract that offers a partial refund to repayment-subsidized participants, with an equivalent subsidy amount in expectation. The embedded option insures against product and income uncertainty, attracting creditworthy consumers who value the insurance against adverse events, while screening out the consumers with high default risk that would otherwise select into adoption under a traditional down payment subsidy scheme.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Shu, Yunyu and Jiayue Zhang. 2025. "Solar demand with credit." AEA RCT Registry. July 11. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.15893-1.0
Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
The intervention is an implicit subsidy in the prevailing market contract to purchase solar lights on credit, embedded in a willingness-to-pay elicitation procedure. Participants will be invited to make a series of discrete choices over credit contracts with different down payment and repayment amounts for the same solar product. One of their choices will be randomly selected and implemented in the end.
Intervention (Hidden)
Intervention Start Date
2025-07-11
Intervention End Date
2025-08-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Adoption of solar, usage of solar, operation time of the day and operation duration within a day, operation location, beliefs about solar usefulness
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
business performance
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Respondents are randomized into four treatment groups facing different subsidies in the randomly selected implementable choice menu. Denote the market contract as (D, P) where D is the amount of down payment and P is the amount of repayment, and the subsidy amount as S for down payment and f(S) as the equivalent subsidy for repayment in the first 4 weeks. Respondents will choose between either of the two contracts shown or none of the two.

Control group: (D, P) versus (D+x, P+y), where x and y are randomly drawn small positive numbers.
Down payment subsidy group: (D, P) versus (D-S, P).
Repayment subsidy group: (D, P) versus (D, P-f(S)).
Embedded option group: (D, P) verus (D, P-f(S)), together with an option to return the product and receive the remaining subsidy
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
The randomization is done in an office by a computer.
Randomization Unit
The randomization is done at the level of the individual firm owner.
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
1200 firm owners
Sample size: planned number of observations
1200 firm owners
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
300 owners in control group
300 owners in down payment subsidy group
300 owners in repayment subsidy group
300 owners in embedded option group
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
New York University Abu Dhabi
IRB Approval Date
2025-04-23
IRB Approval Number
HRPP-2022-75
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