The Role of Behavioral Interventions in Reducing Residential Water Usage: Case Study from Cape Town, South Africa

Last registered on December 20, 2016

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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

The Role of Behavioral Interventions in Reducing Residential Water Usage: Case Study from Cape Town, South Africa

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0000928

Initial registration date

December 20, 2016

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 20, 2016, 3:55 PM EST

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

Locations

Country

South Africa

Region

Primary Investigator

Name

Martine Visser

Affiliation

School of Economics, University of Cape Town

Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name

Kerri Brick

PI Affiliation

Environmental Policy Research Unit, University of Cape Town

Contact Investigator

PI Name

Samantha Martino

PI Affiliation

Sussex University

Contact Investigator

PI Name

Jorge Hernan Garcia

PI Affiliation

CICERO, University of Oslo, Norway

Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status

On going

Start date

2014-06-01

End date

2017-06-30

Keywords

Environment & Energy

Additional Keywords

Behavioral Nudges Loss Aversion Public Goods Social Norms Social Recognition Intrinsic Norms

JEL code(s)

Secondary IDs

Abstract

South Africa has moved from a situation of water stress to one of water scarcity due to pressures from population growth, climate change, over-consumption and urbanization. We study the effectiveness of non-price instruments at promoting water conservation in the residential sector in Cape Town, South Africa's second largest city. Using inserts in monthly costumer bills we test nine treatments in a randomized control trial on XXXX households. The treatments used can be classified in four broad groups: financial framing (focusing on the financial losses/gains involved in water usage), social comparison framing (where household consumption is related to that of its neighbors), public goods (focussing on water savings as a common or public good) and social recognition (rewarding households who save water by making their names public).

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Brick, Kerri et al. 2016. "The Role of Behavioral Interventions in Reducing Residential Water Usage: Case Study from Cape Town, South Africa." AEA RCT Registry. December 20. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.928-1.0

Former Citation

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

This study on the role of behavioral interventions in promoting water conservation is to be rolled-out to residential consumers in the City of Cape Town, South Africa. Our unit of randomization is the household and our outcome variable is household water consumption (liters per month). Participating households have been allocated into nine treatment groups (which receive the interventions or behavioral messages) and a control group (which receives no intervention). The nine behavioral messages are to be sent via billing inserts with the monthly municipal water bills.
The interventions can be described in terms of:
A. Information Provision - Increasing salience
B. Financial Gains & Loss Framings
C. Social Norm Framing
D. Pro-social Framings
E. Social Recognition Framings

Intervention Start Date

2015-11-06

Intervention End Date

2016-05-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

Reduction in Daily Average Water Consumption
Increased Water Savings
Reduced Expenditure on Water per Household
Improved consciousness around water use

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Participating households have been allocated into nine treatment groups (which receive the interventions or behavioral messages) and a control group (which receives no intervention). The nine behavioral messages are to be sent via billing inserts with the monthly municipal water bills. Each household will receive a monthly insert in their bill for 6 consecutive months.

Experimental Design Details

Randomization Method

Randomization done in office by a computer

Randomization Unit

Household level Randomization

Was the treatment clustered?

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

No clustering

Sample size: planned number of observations

413 000 X 6months

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

Note: our sample comprise both indigent and non-indigent households.

Control total: 48,207
T1 total: 49,928
T2 total: 34,000
T3 total: 33,688
T4 total: 34,073
T5 total: 40,001
T6 total: 40,058
T7 total: 44,174
T8 total: 43,930
T9 total: 44,421

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

Supporting Documents and Materials

IRB