Behavioral Designs for Cash Transfers- Tanzania

Last registered on July 30, 2021

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Behavioral Designs for Cash Transfers- Tanzania
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0005168
Initial registration date
December 10, 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
December 11, 2019, 11:41 AM EST

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

Last updated
July 30, 2021, 12:17 PM EDT

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

Locations

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
ideas42

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2021-04-19
End date
2022-02-28
Secondary IDs
Abstract
As social protection cash transfer programs expand, they face demands to deliver greater public value as well as increase cost-effectiveness. There is evidence that insights from behavioral science- the science of how humans make decisions and take actions- can be used to achieve these objectives. Ongoing partnerships between ideas42, the World Bank, and the government of Tanzania have been working to enhance the effectiveness of cash transfer programs through a process of design, testing, and analysis. Research from the field of behavioral science along with a process of user-testing and iteration were used to design context-specific packages of interventions to increase the cost effectiveness of such cash transfer programs. The upcoming RCT will survey about 2880 individuals in 64 in Tanzania at baseline and again 6 months later during a follow-up to estimate if light-touch, low-cost interventions can improve short-term outcomes that may lead to more productive investments and better economic well-being in the long term.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
MacLeod, Catherine. 2021. "Behavioral Designs for Cash Transfers- Tanzania." AEA RCT Registry. July 30. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.5168-3.0
Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Goal setting activity- benefiaries select a goal from pre-specified images or draw their own goal
Plan making activity- beneficiaries determine how much their goal will cost and how much they wish to save from each transfer.
Tracking activity- beneficiaries may track (by checking) if they have saved the desired amount after each transfer
Partitioning pouch- Beneficiaries are given a pouch they can use to seperate the cash they intend to save from the cash they intend to use for consumption
Self-affirmation activity where beneficiaries affirm their values before setting a goal
Intervention Start Date
2021-04-19
Intervention End Date
2021-07-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Savings amount, savings incidence, productive investment amount, productive investment incidence, borrowing amount, repayment of debt
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
This experiment is a cluster randomized controlled trial in which half of the clusters (locations) will be assigned to the control group (recieving cash as normal) and half of the clusters will be assigned to the treatment group (cash plus behavioral activities).
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
computer (stata)
Randomization Unit
Cash transfer site
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
64 sites
Sample size: planned number of observations
2880 individuals
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
32 sites treatment, 32 sites control
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
.17 SD
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Behavioral Designs for Cash Transfer Programs
IRB Approval Date
2018-11-13
IRB Approval Number
Pro00031369

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