Uptake and Impact of Interlinked Index-based Insurance with Credit and Agricultural Inputs: Experimental Evidence from Ethiopia

Last registered on October 29, 2018
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Uptake and Impact of Interlinked Index-based Insurance with Credit and Agricultural Inputs: Experimental Evidence from Ethiopia
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0003504
Initial registration date
October 29, 2018

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 29, 2018, 5:12 PM EDT

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

Locations

Country
Ethiopia
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Ana Marr
Affiliation
University of Greenwich
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Temesgen Belissa
PI Affiliation
Haramaya University
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PI Name
Robert Lensink
PI Affiliation
Wageningen University
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Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2017-05-01
End date
2018-09-30
Keywords
Agriculture
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Abstract
This paper examines the results of randomized experiments in Ethiopia that assess the relevance of bundling index-based insurance (IBI) with credit and inputs. We compare four IBI options and their impact on adoption of modern technologies, consumption and productivity: (1) standard IBI; (2) newly-developed IBI, i.e. promoted via farmer groups and featuring a delayed premium option; (3) new IBI bundled with credit; and (4) new IBI bundled with credit and inputs. We find that only when farmers adopt a package comprised of insurance, credit and inputs, do they significantly increase their investment in modern agricultural technologies and, consequently, productivity grows.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Belissa, Temesgen, Robert Lensink and Ana Marr. 2018. "Uptake and Impact of Interlinked Index-based Insurance with Credit and Agricultural Inputs: Experimental Evidence from Ethiopia." AEA RCT Registry. October 29. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.3504-1.0
Former Citation
Belissa, Temesgen, Robert Lensink and Ana Marr. 2018. "Uptake and Impact of Interlinked Index-based Insurance with Credit and Agricultural Inputs: Experimental Evidence from Ethiopia." AEA RCT Registry. October 29. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/3504/history/36406
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
We conducted our experiment with a local insurance company, Oromia Insurance Company (OIC), in the Rift Valley zone of Ethiopia. In the Rift Valley zone we randomly selected two kebeles , Desta Abjata and Qamo Garbi. Then, from the two kebeles, we randomly selected 47 farmer groups, called Garees in Ethiopia. To avoid ethical issues and to mitigate spillover effects, we used a cluster randomization to randomly assign the 47 garees into four groups: T1, T2, T3 and T4. All household heads from the 47 garees (in total 1661) are part of our experiment; all of them are farmers. Nobody is member of more than one garee.
Intervention Start Date
2017-07-10
Intervention End Date
2018-08-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Investment in modern agricultural technologies, e.g. better seeds, fertiliser. Agricultural production.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Consumption
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Randomised Control Trial.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
We randomly determined four groups, T1, T2, T3 and T4. T1 is the “control” group in the sense that this group did not get any specific treatment (or encouragement, or training). However, we were not allowed to impede T1 farmers from buying the standard index-based insurance from Oromia Insurance Company (OIC). In other words, T1 refers to the group who has access to the standard index-based insurance of OIC but nothing else.
T2 group: We offer farmers a newly-designed index-based insurance product, whereby the product is promoted/delivered via trusting farmer groups and the premium payment is delayed after harvest.
T3 group: We offer farmers the above-mentioned newly-developed IBI plus credit.
T4 group: We offer farmers the above-mentioned newly-developed IBI plus credit and inputs.
Randomization Unit
Individual
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
47 clusters
Sample size: planned number of observations
1661 farmers
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
T1 group=420 farmers; T2 group=420 farmers; T3 group=401 farmers; T4 group=420 farmers. Total=1661 farmers.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
IRB Approval Date
IRB Approval Number
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