The Impact of Access to Rental Markets for Mechanization : Evidence from India

Last registered on June 10, 2019

View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

The Impact of Access to Rental Markets for Mechanization : Evidence from India

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0004112

Initial registration date

June 03, 2019

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

June 10, 2019, 10:27 PM EDT

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

Locations

Country

India

Region

Primary Investigator

Name

Namrata Kala

Affiliation

MIT Sloan School of Management

Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name

Julieta Caunedo

PI Affiliation

Cornell University

Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status

In development

Start date

2019-06-04

End date

2021-06-30

Keywords

Agriculture, Firms & Productivity, Labor

Additional Keywords

JEL code(s)

Secondary IDs

Abstract

Agriculture remains central for the livelihood of a large portion of the population in developing countries, employing nearly 60% of the population in Sub-Saharan Africa and 750 million people in South Asia alone (World Bank, 2018). With increasing land fragmentation over time, increased agriculture productivity remains central to alleviating poverty. This project will run a randomized control trial to understand how the availability of formal rental markets for mechanization affects agricultural productivity, labor market outcomes and incomes for farmers, and on service prices and times to completion for local service providers.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Caunedo, Julieta and Namrata Kala. 2019. "The Impact of Access to Rental Markets for Mechanization : Evidence from India." AEA RCT Registry. June 10. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.4112-1.0

Former Citation

Caunedo, Julieta and Namrata Kala. 2019. "The Impact of Access to Rental Markets for Mechanization : Evidence from India." AEA RCT Registry. June 10. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/4112/history/47893

Sponsors & Partners

Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

Intervention Start Date

2019-06-04

Intervention End Date

2021-06-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

1) Farmers' input decisions (mechanization decisions, and expenditures, quantities, and prices of inputs, including labor)
2) Farmers' output levels, revenues, output prices, and productivity
3) Informal rental arrangements' contractual terms

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

The design is a two stage cluster randomized trial. In the first stage, villages will be assigned to treatment and control. In the second stage, farmers within treatment villages will be assigned to treatment and control.

1) Treatment arm 1 (70 villages), High-Intensity Mechanization Access
2) Treatment arm 2 (70 villages), Low-Intensity Mechanization Access
3) Treatment arm 3 (60 villages), Pure Control villages

Experimental Design Details

Randomization Method

Public lottery

Randomization Unit

we will have a two-stage randomization - the first state is at the village-level, and the second at the farmer-level.

Was the treatment clustered?

Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

200 villages

Sample size: planned number of observations

7100 farmers

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

We will have three treatment arms: These will comprise the following:

1) Treatment arm 1 (70 villages), High-Intensity Mechanization Access: there will be about 35 treatment farmers and 20 control farmers in each village. Of these, about two-thirds of treatment farmers will get subsidized higher value rental equipment offers only, and the rest will get lower value rental equipment offers (which is worth half the value of higher value rental equipment vouchers). Additionally, half the treatment farmers will get a cash transfer equivalent to worth half the value of higher value rental equipment vouchers.

2) Treatment arm 2 (70 villages), Low-Intensity Mechanization Access: there will be 12 treatment farmers and 20 control farmers in each village. Of these, about two thirds of the treatment farmers will get subsidized higher value rental equipment offers only, and the rest will get lower value rental equipment offers (which is worth half the value of higher value rental equipment vouchers). Additionally, half the treatment farmers will get a cash transfer equivalent to worth half the value of higher value rental equipment vouchers.

3) Treatment arm 3 (60 villages), Pure Control villages: there will be 20 control farmers in each village

Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)

Supporting Documents and Materials

IRB