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Strategic Behavior, Learning and Technology Adoption

Last registered on December 21, 2018
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Strategic Behavior, Learning and Technology Adoption
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0003521
Initial registration date
December 18, 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
December 21, 2018, 9:54 PM EST

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

Locations

Country
Uganda
Region
Eastern

Primary Investigator

Name
Benedetta Lerva
Affiliation
World Bank
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2018-09-24
End date
2018-12-31
Keywords
Agriculture, Environment & Energy
Additional Keywords
Learning, Technology Adoption
JEL code(s)
O13, O33, Q12, D83
Secondary IDs
Abstract
The opportunity to free-ride on other individuals' learning costs can delay technology adoption or lead to sub-optimal adoption rates.
I study learning about a pest-control technology among small-holding farmers in Uganda. In this context, delayed adoption may enable a large scale infestation with sizeable economic effects.
I identify two types of free-riding in my setting, namely free-riding on information and free-riding on action.I attempt at separating the two by exploiting experimental variation induced by information interventions.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Lerva, Benedetta. 2018. "Strategic Behavior, Learning and Technology Adoption." AEA RCT Registry. December 21. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.3521-1.0
Former Citation
Lerva, Benedetta. 2018. "Strategic Behavior, Learning and Technology Adoption." AEA RCT Registry. December 21. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/3521/history/39485
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2018-09-24
Intervention End Date
2018-10-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Willingness-to-Pay for an agricultural training to be received by the farmer herself or another farmer residing in the same village as the respondent.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
I elicit farmers' willingness-to-pay (WTP) for a training session of 3 hours with an agricultural extension worker, focused on the maize pest Fall Armyworm. The recipient of the training may be the farmer herself or another sampled farmer in her village. Therefore, I elicit as many prices from each farmer as the number of sampled farmers in her village including herself. Prices are elicited through a Becker-DeGroot-Marschak mechanism and range from 0 to 40,000 Ugandan Shilings (UGX) in increments of 2,000. Each farmer is assigned a single random price for the training, and a farmer can purchase the training only if her stated WTP is at least as large as the random price.
Experimental Design Details
The design is within-subject, such that each subject is exposed to two information treatments and one control condition. In the control condition, a farmer is simply asked about her WTP for training if the recipient is another farmer in the village. In the first treatment condition, before a farmer is asked about her WTP for another farmer in the village (not the same farmer as in the control condition), she is informed that she will have the opportunity to meet that person. In the second treatment condition, before a farmer is asked about her WTP for another farmer (not the same farmer as in the control or first treatment condition), she receives information on the distance between her plot and that of the other farmer.
Randomization Method
The randomization is performed through a personal computer running Stata software.
Training prices are preassigned and stratified by the treatment assignment of a previous RCT that the author is conducting on the same sample.
The name of the farmer(s) that the respondent is going to either meet or be informed about plot distance are also selected at random and all equally likely.
Randomization Unit
The randomization unit for both training price assignment and information treatment is the individual.
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
799 farmers express their willingness-to-pay to train each other sampled farmer in the village. This yields a total of 5498 prices elicited, which is my unit of observation.
Sample size: planned number of observations
799 farmers express their willingness-to-pay to train each other sampled farmer in the village. This yields a total of 5498 prices elicited, which is my unit of observation.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
1345 meeting treatment, 1374 distance information treatment, 2779 control
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Mildmay Uganda Research Ethics Committee
IRB Approval Date
2018-12-11
IRB Approval Number
0412-2016
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