Limited Insurance Within the Household in Kenya

Last registered on February 22, 2017
View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Limited Insurance Within the Household in Kenya
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0001893
Initial registration date
February 22, 2017

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 22, 2017, 10:16 AM EST

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

Locations

Country
Kenya
Region
Africa

Primary Investigator

Name
Jonathan Robinson
Affiliation
University of California, Santa Cruz
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2006-04-01
End date
2006-10-31
Keywords
Finance & Microfinance
Additional Keywords
risk-sharing, consumption, intra-household
JEL code(s)
D14, D81, G22, O12, O16
Secondary IDs
Abstract
In developing countries, unexpected income shocks are common but informal insurance is typically incomplete. An important question is therefore whether risk-sharing within the household is effective. This paper presents results from a field experiment with 142 married couples in Kenya in which individuals were given random income shocks. Even though the shocks were small relative to lifetime income, men increase private consumption when they receive the shock but not when their wives do, a rejection of efficiency. Such behavior is not specific to the experiment - both spouses spend more on themselves when their labor income is higher.
External Link(s)
J-PAL Evaluation Summary

Registration Citation

Citation
Robinson, Jonathan. 2017. "Limited Insurance Within the Household in Kenya." AEA RCT Registry. February 22. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.1893-1.0
Former Citation
Robinson, Jonathan. 2017. "Limited Insurance Within the Household in Kenya." AEA RCT Registry. February 22. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/1893/history/14297
Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
The intervention randomly provides a 150 Kenyan shilling income shock to participants at the end of each weekly monitoring visit for 8 weeks. The probability of receiving the shock in a given week was 50 percent for each spouse. Thus, there are weeks in which both spouses got the shock, weeks in which only one or the other got the shock, and weeks in which neither did. The shocks were announced to each spouse, so that each knew what the other had gotten. Payments were made privately, however, and individuals were told that they could spend the money however they chose.
Intervention Start Date
2006-04-01
Intervention End Date
2006-10-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
consumption expenditure, financial transfers (within the household and outside the household), labor hours worked, labor income, savings (bank/ROSCA and total savings)
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Researchers provided randomly administered positive income shocks to couples, and monitored the consumption patterns of both individuals in the couple as a response to the shock.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
To make the payment of the shocks as transparent as possible, each enumerator carried with him a black plastic bag containing 56 slips of paper with the numbers 1-56 on them. Each number corresponded to a payment for both spouses. For each spouse, the drawing of 28 of the slips resulted in payment, while the drawing of the other 28 resulted in no payment.
Randomization Unit
Individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
142 couples
Sample size: planned number of observations
142 couples
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
The probability of receiving the shock in a given week was 50 percent for each spouse.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Princeton University
IRB Approval Date
Details not available
IRB Approval Number
Details not available
Analysis Plan

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
Yes
Intervention Completion Date
October 31, 2006, 12:00 +00:00
Data Collection Complete
Yes
Data Collection Completion Date
October 31, 2006, 12:00 +00:00
Final Sample Size: Number of Clusters (Unit of Randomization)
142 couples
Was attrition correlated with treatment status?
No
Final Sample Size: Total Number of Observations
898 enumerator visits/surveys
Final Sample Size (or Number of Clusters) by Treatment Arms
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
Yes
Public Data URL
https://dataverse.harvard.edu/dataset.xhtml?persistentId=doi:10.7910/DVN/0QZA4C

Program Files

Program Files
Yes
Program Files URL
https://dataverse.harvard.edu/dataset.xhtml?persistentId=doi:10.7910/DVN/0QZA4C
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Abstract
Limited Insurance within the Household: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Kenya
Citation
Robinson, Jonathan. 2012. "Limited Insurance Within the Household: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Kenya." American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 4(4): 140-164.
URL
https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/app.4.4.140

Reports & Other Materials