Individual health risks and policy preferences during a pandemic: evidence from El Salvador

Last registered on July 02, 2020

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Individual health risks and policy preferences during a pandemic: evidence from El Salvador
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0005945
Initial registration date
June 03, 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
June 04, 2020, 2:27 PM EDT

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

Last updated
July 02, 2020, 3:08 PM EDT

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

Locations

Region

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
LSE

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Affiliation
Erasmus School of Economics

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2020-06-01
End date
2020-12-31
Secondary IDs
Abstract
In response to the covid19 crisis, El Salvador has imposed one of the strictest lockdown policies. The severe restrictions imposed create specific challenges and costs for poorer populations. As many rely on informal work to survive, they may no longer earn an income and are at risk of falling further into poverty. At the same time, these populations may have many health problems that increase their probability of developing severe symptoms if they contract covid19. Hence the extent to which individuals support alternative policy measures may depend on their health risk perceptions, which themselves may be based on imperfect knowledge. In this study, we follow up a cohort of clients from a micro-finance organization and test whether, upon receiving information about risk factors associated with serious cases of covid19, individuals update the perception of their own risks, and subsequently their policy support for alternative policies.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Lagarde, Mylene and Carlos Riumallo Herl. 2020. "Individual health risks and policy preferences during a pandemic: evidence from El Salvador." AEA RCT Registry. July 02. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.5945-1.1
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
To assess the effects of knowledge of risk factors for covid19 on risk perceptions and policy preferences, we will randomise individuals to one of three groups:
- A 'general information' group who will receive information about the main known risk factors of covid19 ;
- An ‘individualized information' group who will receive information about the number of known risk factors of covid19 they personally have;
- A control group who will receive no information.
Intervention Start Date
2020-06-01
Intervention End Date
2020-08-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Two main series outcomes:
(1) individuals' perceived probabilities of developing severe symptoms and dying from covid19
(2) individuals' support for protective measures to limit the spread of the virus
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The experiment will be conducted during a phone interview, realized in June-July2020 in San Salvador, the capital city of El Salvador. Study participants are a randomly chosen sub-sample of an existing study involving clients of a microfinance institution. Individuals have already shared their contact details and will be reached for a short telephonic interview.

Individuals will be randomised to one of the three groups before the interview. To ensure a high degree of balance and obtain the desired proportions across treatment groups within each stratum, we stratify the randomisation by income, known risk factors for covid19 and perceptions of health risk for covid19 (as elicited in March 2020).
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomization done in the office by a computer software programme
Randomization Unit
Randomisation will be done at the level of individuals.
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
1680 individuals
Sample size: planned number of observations
1680 individuals
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
560 individuals in each arm
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
London School of Economics
IRB Approval Date
2020-05-26
IRB Approval Number
1147
Analysis Plan

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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