Differential Treatment of Families with Children: A Correspondence Study of the Moscow Real Estate Market (phase 1)

Last registered on February 24, 2026
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Differential Treatment of Families with Children: A Correspondence Study of the Moscow Real Estate Market (phase 1)
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0017892
Initial registration date
February 20, 2026

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 24, 2026, 6:40 AM EST

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
FABIAN SLONIMCZYK
Affiliation
HSE University
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2026-02-23
End date
2026-05-31
Keywords
Behavior
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
We test whether families with children are discriminated against in the rental real estate market of Moscow. We conduct a correspondence study through cian.ru, the main online real estate platform in Russia. We target properties that are small enough to be suitable for a single person or a couple, yet large enough that they could also accommodate a couple with a 2 year-old child.

The first phase of our correspondence study looks at differential response rates for applicants with different household compositions. Specifically, we consider four treatment groups:
1. Single female
2. Couple
3. Couple with a 2 year-old child
4. Single mother with a 2 year-old child

In all cases, the applicant is a female with a generic Russian name. She explicitly mentions that she and other family members have Russian citizenship. All landlords are contacted through cian.ru’s messenger utility. We will record the following outcomes: 1. whether the landlord responds within 7 days; 2. how long it takes the landlord to respond; 3. whether the response message specifies that the property is available and that a visit can be scheduled.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
SLONIMCZYK, FABIAN. 2026. "Differential Treatment of Families with Children: A Correspondence Study of the Moscow Real Estate Market (phase 1)." AEA RCT Registry. February 24. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.17892-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
This is a correspondence study that aims at detecting differential treatment of families with children in the real estate market. We contact subjects through an online platform where landlords post ads showcasing their properties and the conditions for rental. The contact message expresses interest in the property and indicates the composition of the household. Specifically, there will be four treatment arms: single female, childless couple, a couple with a 2 year old son, and a single mother with a 2 year old son. We record response rates and response times, as well as the details of the response message. We test for differential outcomes on average and check for heterogeneous effect based on property value and other pre-treatment covariates.
Intervention Start Date
2026-02-23
Intervention End Date
2026-05-15

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
1. Response rate
2. Time to response
3. Positive response (apartment is available for visit without delay and no further questions/tests)
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Correspondence study on an online real estate platform.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
The randomization to treatment will be done by a computer. Specifically, we will stratify the sample by three price categories and randomize into the four treatment arms within strata.
Randomization Unit
The unit of randomization is the individual property. We will put checks in place to avoid messaging the same landlord more than once over the course of the study.
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
Treatment is administered at the property level. There is no clustering.
Sample size: planned number of observations
Following the power analysis detailed in the attached document, our target sample size for phase 1 is 3500 contacted landlords.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
We aim at equal-sized treatment arms. In other words, we expect to have around 3500/4=875 observations per treatment arm.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
The minimum detectable effect size is 5 percentage points. See the attached pre-analysis document.
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
IRB Approval Date
IRB Approval Number
Analysis Plan

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