Housing Microfinance and Climate Resilience in the Philippines

Last registered on June 29, 2023

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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

Housing Microfinance and Climate Resilience in the Philippines

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0009124

Initial registration date

May 02, 2022

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

May 03, 2022, 9:48 AM EDT

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

Last updated

June 29, 2023, 7:07 PM EDT

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

Locations

Country

Philippines

Region

Primary Investigator

Name

Russell Toth

Affiliation

University of Sydney

Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name

Russell Toth

PI Affiliation

University of Sydney

Contact Investigator

PI Name

Teevrat Garg

PI Affiliation

University of California - San Diego

Contact Investigator

PI Name

Ricardo Dahis

PI Affiliation

PUC-Rio

Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status

On going

Start date

2022-06-20

End date

2023-12-31

Keywords

Environment & Energy, Finance & Microfinance

Additional Keywords

housing microfinance, climate resilience, consumer education, risk perceptions

JEL code(s)

Secondary IDs

Prior work

This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.

Abstract

Low-income households in the Philippines lack sufficient access to affordable and resilient housing to protect them from the physical and economic damages brought by increasingly frequent extreme weather events, such as typhoons and floods. We partner with a large microfinance NGO and an NGO focused on housing for low-income households, to evaluate a new housing microfinance product. We will run a 2x2 randomized evaluation that cross-randomizes a high-touch education component (versus no education) and the new housing loan terms (versus being offered the old housing loan terms), against a control group. The main outcomes are short-term impacts on perceptions of climate risk and resilience, knowledge and plans for house construction, and other measures of resilience. The study will create new knowledge about how to support low-income households in obtaining housing that is resilient to extreme weather events, which is relevant across a number of developing countries that are vulnerable to climate change.

External Link(s)

Study description on funder's website

Registration Citation

Citation

Dahis, Ricardo et al. 2023. "Housing Microfinance and Climate Resilience in the Philippines." AEA RCT Registry. June 29. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.9124-3.0

Sponsors & Partners

Interventions

Intervention(s)

The interventions are a new pilot loan product that features increased loan amount and loan tenure, and high-touch consumer education on building resilient houses.

Intervention Start Date

2022-06-20

Intervention End Date

2023-03-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

Please see the attached analysis plan.

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Please see the attached analysis plan.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Please see the attached analysis plan.

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Please see the attached analysis plan.

Experimental Design

We will run a 2x2 randomized evaluation that cross-randomizes the education component (versus no education) and the new loan terms (versus being offered the old loan terms), against a control group.

Experimental Design Details

Please see the attached analysis plan.

Randomization Method

Randomization done by computer using Stata.

Randomization Unit

Randomization is at the microfinance client-group level (954), stratified by branch (12), by loan officer (70).

Was the treatment clustered?

Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

954 microfinance client groups, stratified across 12 MFI branches and 70 loan officers.

Sample size: planned number of observations

There are 22,244 clients divided across 954 microfinance client groups, stratified across 12 MFI branches and 70 loan officers. We will attempt to collect the mini-survey and administrative data from as many clients as will consent. For more details on this, and the endline survey sampling, please see the attached analysis plan.

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

Each treatment arm, and the control, have about 190 clients groups. For more details on this, and the allocation of endline surveys to treatment arms, please see the attached analysis plan.

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

Please see the attached analysis plan.

Supporting Documents and Materials

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