Crisis Management and Political Consequences of the Covid-19 Crisis

Last registered on February 25, 2023
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Crisis Management and Political Consequences of the Covid-19 Crisis
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0006889
Initial registration date
December 13, 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
December 14, 2020, 10:31 AM EST

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

Last updated
February 25, 2023, 6:38 AM EST

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

Locations

Country
Spain
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Monica Martinez-Bravo
Affiliation
CEMFI
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Carlos Sanz
PI Affiliation
Banco de España
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2020-11-27
End date
2022-01-29
Keywords
Governance
Additional Keywords
Covid-19, Political Attitudes
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
In this study, we analyze the political and economic consequences of the (mis)management of the Covid-19 crisis. With this objective, we plan to implement a number of large-scale online experiments conducted to a representative sample of the Spanish population. Spain is one of the most severely affected countries by the Covid-19 pandemic, both in terms of the public health crisis and the expected economic downturn.

Our main research question is to study how providing information about the importance and the quality of the public management of the crisis and about the difference in management of the crisis across Spanish regions affect trust in institutions, support for extremist parties, polarization, and compliance with the rules, among other political attitudes.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Martinez-Bravo, Monica and Carlos Sanz. 2023. "Crisis Management and Political Consequences of the Covid-19 Crisis." AEA RCT Registry. February 25. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.6889-1.2
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2020-11-27
Intervention End Date
2021-01-11

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
o Trust in political institutions.
o Assessment of the performance of the current government in managing the crisis.
o Political preferences and polarization. Ideological and Affective polarization.
o Support for Taxation and Redistribution.
o Knowledge and support for the Guaranteed Minimum Income policy, which was recently adopted by the Spanish Government.
o Self-assessment of emotional well-being.
o (See the attached pre-analysis plan for details.)
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Individuals will be randomly assigned to one of the following three groups:

T1: This group obtains a treatment that consists on information on the importance of contact tracing in managing the Covid crisis. First, we elicit the individual's prior on what is the number of contact tracers in his/her region (Autonomous Communities in Spain). Second we provide the actual number of contact tracers in their region in October 2020. In order to provide a benchmark for this information, we also provide information on the recommended number of contact tracers according to the Fitzhugh Mullan Institute for Health Workforce Equity.

T2: This group obtains the same information and prior elicitation as those in T1. At the end of that treatment, they receive additional information on how the number of contact tracers in their region compares to the rest of Spanish regions. This information provides an additional benchmark to the number of contact tracers.

Control: This group receives the treatment T1 at the end of the survey. Since at the time of answering all relevant outcomes the control group has not received yet the information treatment, this group serves as a control group. By providing the treatment information to this group at the end of the survey, we can obtain from them the prior about the number of contact tracers in their region.

Randomization:
The sample is randomized to the three groups according to the following proportions: T1 (1/4 of the sample), T2 (1/4 of the sample), Control (1/2 of the sample).

The randomization is stratified by region, age, education level, and treatment assignment in a previous experimental design. Individuals in each stratum are randomly assigned to the three groups (treatments and control) without replacement.

(See the attached pre-analysis plan for details.)
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomization done by survey company's computer.
Randomization Unit
Individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
NA
Sample size: planned number of observations
4,000 (in expectation)
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
1,000 in treatment T1; 1,000 in treatment T2; 2,000 in control group
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Ethics Committee of CEMFI
IRB Approval Date
2020-10-26
IRB Approval Number
9
Analysis Plan

Analysis Plan Documents

Pre-Analysis Plan for ``Trust and Accountability in Times of Pandemic''

MD5: 33e36e58307c54f397043f5810c0e163

SHA1: 12a46227490945c8d0cb6647de5641992a988eec

Uploaded At: December 13, 2020

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