The Organization of the State

Last registered on July 23, 2026
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
The Organization of the State
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0019084
Initial registration date
July 22, 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
July 23, 2026, 8:32 AM EDT

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
Marta Morando
Affiliation
London School of Economics
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2026-07-23
End date
2026-08-14
Keywords
Electoral, Governance, Other
Additional Keywords
public sector, social preferences, organization of the state
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial is based on or builds upon one or more prior RCTs.
Abstract
Governments increasingly rely on external consultants for expertise that was once provided within the bureaucracy. This study examines how citizens evaluate alternative ways of organizing public sector capacity, focusing on their views on civil servants and external consultants. I conduct an online survey in which respondents report their support for in-house versus external provision of government expertise, information experiments, as well as a discrete-choice experiment comparing alternative policies. The survey also uses an AI-based interview module to elicit respondents’ reasoning about these choices. I combine these measures with data on demographics, political attitudes, trust in government, and views of the private sector to study what correlates with public support for different models of organizing the state.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Morando, Marta. 2026. "The Organization of the State." AEA RCT Registry. July 23. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.19084-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
I administer an online survey to respondents in Italy. The survey includes an embedded AI-based interview that elicits respondents’ knowledge, support, views, and perceptions regarding the use of external consultants in the public sector, compared with the use of in-house civil servants. The survey also measures respondents’ beliefs about the economic mechanisms underlying the use of consultants, their quantitative beliefs, their broader views on public institutions and the private sector, their reactions to informational prompts, and their willingness-to-pay for one vs the other.
Intervention Start Date
2026-07-23
Intervention End Date
2026-08-14

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
The key outcome variables are the support and views of different modes of production, the willingness-to-pay, and the share of respondents who prefer public employees at equal savings.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
In addition to the main outcomes, I am also interested in the heterogeneity of the background characteristics of respondents and broader views.
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
I randomize 1) the information provided to respondents; 2) the framing of the discrete choice experiment; 3) the savings of the discrete choice experiment.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
The randomization is done by the survey software (Qualtrics).
Randomization Unit
The primary unit of randomization is the individual respondent. The discrete choice experiment is randomized both within-individual (across vignettes) and across individuals.
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
around 4000 individuals
Sample size: planned number of observations
around 4000 individuals
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
15% pure control, 15% active control, 20% factual treatment arm, 20% "advantages" information arm, 20% "disadvantages" information arm, 10% salience-advantages arm.

All those in the sample will see the discrete choice experiment. Those in the "advantages" information arms are not told the "equivalence" framing. The remaining part of the sample is equally likely of reading the "equivalence" framing.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
London School of Economics Research Ethics Committee
IRB Approval Date
2026-03-18
IRB Approval Number
704514
Analysis Plan

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