Nudging Firms to Increase Labor Inclusion

Last registered on October 18, 2019
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Nudging Firms to Increase Labor Inclusion
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0004813
Initial registration date
October 17, 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
October 18, 2019, 10:43 AM EDT

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

Locations

Country
Chile
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Claudia Martinez A.
Affiliation
Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Suzanne Duryea
PI Affiliation
Inter-American Development Bank
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Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2019-05-01
End date
2021-12-31
Keywords
Labor
Additional Keywords
disabilities, quotas, firm compliance, behavioral insights
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Abstract
In early 2018, Chile enacted a new regulation on the labor inclusion of people with disabilities, in the form of law 21,015. This law dictates that all public firms and institutions with more than 100 employees must reserve 1% of its positions for people with disabilities. Taking this into account, the Chilean scenario presents a far more promising context for firm compliance than other countries in the region where quotas are set at 4% or 5%. This paper examines whether firm compliance to the newly established quota can be nudged through messages embodied with behavioral insights. The experiment includes designing the letters, randomizing the firms, sending the letters and monitoring the implementation.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Duryea, Suzanne and Claudia Martinez A.. 2019. "Nudging Firms to Increase Labor Inclusion ." AEA RCT Registry. October 18. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.4813-1.0
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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
The intervention consists in sending letters to firms with information about the compliance of Law 21.015 in Chile. We designed three types of messages: i) informative; ii) informative + positive social norms, including the benefits of inclusion of PwD; and iii) informative + deterrence, including the threat of fine. The letters are sent by email, because it allows tracking its reception, and considering that in certain context emails have been more effective than letters in delivering the same message in the tax literature. With the objective of increasing the saliency of the emails, and as it is standard in the tax literature, the letters were sent throughout an institutionalized mail server.
Intervention Start Date
2019-05-01
Intervention End Date
2021-12-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Compliance of the Law, type of Law compliance, numbers of PwD hired, number of new hiring of PwD.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
Our main outcomes of interest are measures of law compliance and success the formal labor market: employment of PwD and earnings among firms.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Additionally, we plan to evaluate effects on the firms with measuring their profit rate and number of employees. We plan to measure these through whichever data source we can obtain permission to use, likely the Chilean Unemployment Insurance data.
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Our sample includes all the Chilean organizations with i) commercial legal personality; ii) complete self-reported information of the number of employees using the data from the Chilean Tax Authority; iii) 100 or more employees; and iv) a currently active email address. There are 7,878 firms that fulfill these characteristics. They are randomized among the four groups stratifying by the number of employees, the principal economic activity of the firm, and geographic location. The sample is divided in four groups: i) control; ii) information; iii) information + benefits of inclusion (positive social norms); iv) information + threat of fine (deterrence).
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Computerized (STATA programming)
Randomization Unit
Firms
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
0
Sample size: planned number of observations
7,878
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
1,970 (aprox)
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Comité Ético Científico en Ciencias Sociales, Artes y Humanidades, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
IRB Approval Date
2019-01-23
IRB Approval Number
190123003
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