A revealed preference study on intra-household resource allocation

Last registered on October 03, 2021
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
A revealed preference study on intra-household resource allocation
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0004877
Initial registration date
October 20, 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 21, 2019, 10:04 AM EDT

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

Last updated
October 03, 2021, 3:22 PM EDT

Last updated is the most recent time when changes to the trial's registration were published.

Locations

Country
Uganda
Region
Kapchorwa District, Eastern Uganda

Primary Investigator

Name
Cansın Arslan
Affiliation
University of Exeter
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Daniel Gregg
PI Affiliation
University of Adelaide
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2019-10-22
End date
2020-06-30
Keywords
Agriculture, Gender
Additional Keywords
development, intra-household resource allocation
JEL code(s)
Q1, J1
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
Unitary and collective household models assume efficient allocation of resources within the household. A body of literature indicates, however, that the preferences of the household may be pareto-inefficient. Inefficiencies are potentially associated with substantial losses to individual and household welfare in particular when public goods are underprovided or when household members have different consumption preferences. Using data from 400 households, we test the inefficiency hypothesis using a novel revealed preference approach. We elicit the willingness of women and men to pay to receive a small and instant cash transfer in private instead of in front of their partners. Using follow-up survey data collected a week after the experiment, we analyze the spending patterns of those who receive money in private vs. in front of their partners.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Arslan, Cansın and Daniel Gregg. 2021. "A revealed preference study on intra-household resource allocation." AEA RCT Registry. October 03. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.4877-1.1
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
We propose to employ a mechanism widely used in the experimental economics literature – the Becker, De-Groot, Marschak (Becker et al. 1964) mechanism, or the BDM. The BDM approach provides an explicit measure of the personal cost of transfers of private income to the public pool. The information provided by the BDM approach utilises a direct mechanism which is aligned with real-world decisions regarding entering income into the public account of the household or keeping it private. In this case the willingness to pay (WTP) for keeping endowments private reflects both the difference in preferences for expenditures combined with a lack of agreement on how income should be spent within the household (i.e. allocated to public versus private expenditures).

Endowments used for these components will be worth approximately 1 to 3day’s labour wages, or 15,000 and 30,000 Ushs. The person obtaining the initial endowment (the ‘participant’ in the BDM game) will be randomly selected using stratification across genders (male vs. female) ensuring balance in the sample of male-senders and female-senders (200 of each) for the BDM mechanism treatments.
Intervention Start Date
2019-10-28
Intervention End Date
2019-11-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Efficiency losses in the household, expenditure patterns (public vs private)
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We randomly assign either male or female household head of each household in our sample to participate in the BDM treatment (400 households). 200 male household heads in the BDM treatment represent a control group for 200 female household heads in the BDM treatment.

Endowments used for these components will be worth approximately 1.5 or 3-day’s labour wages (15,000 or 30,000 Ushs). We will randomly assign either 15,000 or 30,000 Ushs to BDM treatment participants. 200 participants will receive 15,000 and 200 participants will receive 30,000 Ushs endowment.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomization of treatment assignments is done by a computer
Randomization Unit
individuals
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
NA
Sample size: planned number of observations
400 households
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
200 households control 200 households treatment
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
OFFICE OF RESEARCH ETHICS, COMPLIANCE AND INTEGRITY, THE UNIVERSITY OF ADELAIDE
IRB Approval Date
2019-09-25
IRB Approval Number
H-2019-181
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