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
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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

Sponsors

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Experimental Details

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

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
Not available
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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IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Innovations for Poverty Action IRB
IRB Approval Date
2022-05-04
IRB Approval Number
16136
Analysis Plan

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