An economic experiment on institutions and trust

Last registered on November 17, 2020
View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
An economic experiment on institutions and trust
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0005323
Initial registration date
January 19, 2020

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
January 21, 2020, 1:59 PM EST

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

Last updated
November 17, 2020, 6:34 AM EST

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

Locations

Country
Benin
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Marco Fabbri
Affiliation
University Pompeu Fabra Barcelona
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2020-01-21
End date
2020-03-15
Keywords
Governance, Welfare
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Abstract
Developing interpersonal trust outside the close-knit circle of known people and community members is a key determinant for the success of impersonal trade and economic development. In this project, I study how property rights impact on the development of trust and trustworthiness preferences affecting in-group and out-group members of a community. Specifically, I study the effects of a land tenure reform implemented in a West African country that transformed collective and informal land rights in a system akin to private ownership.
I combine the peculiar implementation of the reform with a Trust game designed to elicit trust and trustworthiness preferences both within the rural village participants belong to and between participants belonging to different villages.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Fabbri, Marco. 2020. "An economic experiment on institutions and trust." AEA RCT Registry. November 17. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.5323-1.3
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
See attached pre-analysis plan
Intervention Start Date
2020-01-21
Intervention End Date
2020-03-15

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Trust and trustworthiness measures in a standard trust game
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
See attached pre-analysis plan

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
I implement a standard trust game that will be played once with a partner from the same village and once with a partner belonging to a different village. I combine the trust game with the implementation of a property rights reform that transformed collective and informal property in a system akin to private ownership
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
In office done by a computer. See pre-analysis plan.
Randomization Unit
Village
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
32
Sample size: planned number of observations
576
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
144 treated*in-group, 144 treated*outgroup, 144 control*in-group, 144 control out-group
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
See attached pre-analysis plan
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Ethics Commitee - Parc de Salut MAR
IRB Approval Date
2018-04-11
IRB Approval Number
2018/8015/I
Analysis Plan

Analysis Plan Documents

An economic experiment on institutions and trust

MD5: bd0e504b153e3fc28b133f6e961c7daf

SHA1: 1350ff77c320b7b6a43c462fe6e9fcd1d14be5bc

Uploaded At: January 24, 2020

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
Yes
Intervention Completion Date
February 29, 2020, 12:00 +00:00
Data Collection Complete
Yes
Data Collection Completion Date
February 29, 2020, 12:00 +00:00
Final Sample Size: Number of Clusters (Unit of Randomization)
32 villages
Was attrition correlated with treatment status?
No
Final Sample Size: Total Number of Observations
576
Final Sample Size (or Number of Clusters) by Treatment Arms
288
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials