Gift-exchange in Society and the Social Integration of Refugees - A Natural Field Experiment

Last registered on June 15, 2020

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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

Gift-exchange in Society and the Social Integration of Refugees - A Natural Field Experiment

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0006002

Initial registration date

June 15, 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 15, 2020, 11:40 AM EDT

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

Locations

Country

Germany

Region

Northwestern Germany

Primary Investigator

Name

Vanessa Mertins

Affiliation

University of Vechta

Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name

Sabrina Jeworrek

PI Affiliation

Halle Institute for Economic Research & Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg

Contact Investigator

PI Name

Bernd Leisen

PI Affiliation

University of Vechta

Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status

Completed

Start date

2018-08-01

End date

2018-12-12

Keywords

Governance

Additional Keywords

Gift-exchange, reciprocity, refugees, integration, field experiment, laboratory experiment

JEL code(s)

C93, D63, D64 D91, J15

Secondary IDs

Abstract

Refugee integration requires broad support from the host society, but only a minority of the host population is actively engaged. Given that most individuals reciprocate kind behavior, we examine the idea that the proportion of supporters will increase as a reciprocal response to refugees’ contributions to society through volunteering. We ran a nationwide survey experiment, a laboratory experiment and a natural field experiment (the latter is registered here). All data show that citizens’ intentions to contribute time and money as well as actual contributions rise significantly when they learn about refugees’ pro-social activities.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Jeworrek, Sabrina, Bernd Leisen and Vanessa Mertins. 2020. "Gift-exchange in Society and the Social Integration of Refugees - A Natural Field Experiment." AEA RCT Registry. June 15. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.6002-1.0

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

The treatment texts on the flyers which were on behalf of the Syrian refugee read as follows:
[1] Hello, dear neighbors from [part of town], my name is [typical Syrian first name]. I came to [name of the town] from Syria as a refugee and moved to your neighborhood. Through friends, I learned about [name of the platform]. This is a complimentary internet platform with which neighbors can get to know and support each other in everyday life.
[2] I’m currently volunteering to co-found our digital neighborhood and helping to distribute these flyers to every home in [several parts of town] – that's over 9,000 households ;-). This is my first contribution to a lively neighborhood.
[3] In the next step, I would also like to be available for a direct, mutual exchange of everyday help. If a neighbor could help me to understand a difficult letter, for example, I could help him in return with doing small household or garden tasks.

The control group saw only Paragraph 1, the third-party support treatment group additionally received Paragraph 2, and the mutual support treatment group received all three paragraphs.

Intervention Start Date

2018-08-01

Intervention End Date

2018-12-12

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

Share of registrations.

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

We measured the number of registrations for a digital neighborhood community following a flyer campaign. We had 3 different flyer versions.
The random allocation of the three versions resulted in 1,935 flyers for the control group, 2,005 flyers for third-party support treatment group, and 2,140 flyers for mutual support treatment group, so that 6,080 households received a flyer in their mailbox on behalf of a Syrian refugee. Additionally, 1,088 flyers were distributed on behalf of a German neighbor in the third-party support group. In total, 7,166 flyers were distributed regarding this experiment. About 1,800 additional flyers were distributed by and on behalf of other locals who wanted to actively promote the use of the neighborhood platform. So all households in this small city (~9,000) received a flyer invitation.

Experimental Design Details

Randomization Method

Randomization done in office by mixing up the flyers.

Randomization Unit

Individual mailbox

Was the treatment clustered?

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

7,166 households.

Sample size: planned number of observations

7,166

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

1935 flyers for the control group, 2005 flyers for third-party support treatment group, 2140 flyers for mutual support treatment Group by Syrian refugee.

Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)

Supporting Documents and Materials

IRB