Household Water Connections in Tangier, Morocco

Last registered on October 18, 2016

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Household Water Connections in Tangier, Morocco
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0001649
Initial registration date
October 18, 2016

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
October 18, 2016, 5:46 PM EDT

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

Locations

Region

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
Jameel Poverty Action Lab Europe

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Affiliation
Harvard Business School
PI Affiliation
Université Catholique de Louvain
PI Affiliation
Stanford University
PI Affiliation
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2007-07-19
End date
2012-05-22
Secondary IDs
Abstract
Connecting private dwellings to the water main is expensive and typically cannot be publicly financed. We show that households' willingness to pay for a private connection is high when it can be purchased on credit, not because a connection improves health but because it increases the time available for leisure and reduces inter and intra-household conflicts on water matters, leading to sustained improvements in well-being. Our results suggest that facilitating access to credit for households to finance lump sum quality-of life investments can significantly increase welfare, even if those investments do not result in any health or income gains.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Devoto, Florencia et al. 2016. "Household Water Connections in Tangier, Morocco." AEA RCT Registry. October 18. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.1649-1.0
Former Citation
Devoto, Florencia et al. 2016. "Household Water Connections in Tangier, Morocco." AEA RCT Registry. October 18. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/1649/history/11320
Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Treatment households received information about the credit available for water connection, as well as help with the administrative procedures needed to apply for credit and the connection. Specifically, all the necessary paperwork was filled out and photographed in individuals' homes, and brought to the municipal office for approval. The remaining households (the comparison group) were eligible to apply for a connection on credit if they wanted to, but they received neither individualized information nor procedural assistance.
Intervention (Hidden)
Intervention Start Date
2008-02-01
Intervention End Date
2008-04-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Water connectivity (# of new connections to the water network), Time spent fetching water, Labor market and school participation, Perceived time availability, Costs of water, Mental well-being, Social integration
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
This paper uses a randomized design to study the effects of easier access to in-home water connections on poor urban households in Morocco. The organization Amendis runs a program which allows low-income households to buy a connection to the water and sanitation network at full cost, but on interest-free credit. Researchers worked with Amendis to apply an encouragement design as an intervention, where both treatment and control groups could take up water connectivity program, but treatment households were informed about the option through a door-to-door campaign and also provided with procedural assistance to take up the program.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
The random allocation of clusters between treatment and control groups was stratified by location, water source, the number of children under five, and number of households within the cluster.
Randomization Unit
Block level (clusters of plots which contain households)
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
626 blocks
Sample size: planned number of observations
845 households
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
Treatment: 315 blocks, 434 households
Control: 311 blocks, 411 households
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
UCLA Office for Protection of Research Subjects
IRB Approval Date
2008-11-05
IRB Approval Number
UCLA IRB#G08-09-091-01
IRB Name
MIT Ethical Review Committee
IRB Approval Date
2007-07-19
IRB Approval Number
0706002309

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
Yes
Intervention Completion Date
April 30, 2008, 12:00 +00:00
Data Collection Complete
Yes
Data Collection Completion Date
August 31, 2009, 12:00 +00:00
Final Sample Size: Number of Clusters (Unit of Randomization)
626 blocks
Was attrition correlated with treatment status?
No
Final Sample Size: Total Number of Observations
793 households
Final Sample Size (or Number of Clusters) by Treatment Arms
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Abstract
Happiness on Tap: Piped Water Adoption in Urban Morocco
Citation
Devoto, Florencia, Esther Duflo, Pascaline Dupas, William Parienté, and Vincent Pons. 2012. "Happiness on Tap: Piped Water Adoption in Urban Morocco." American Economic Journal: Economic Policy 4(4): 68-99.

Reports & Other Materials