Transparency in Anti-Poverty Programs

Last registered on March 20, 2014
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Transparency in anti-poverty programs
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0000096
First published
November 20, 2013, 3:53 PM EST

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

Last updated
March 20, 2014, 2:15 AM EDT

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

Locations

Country
Indonesia
Region
Central Java, South Sumatera, Lampung

Primary Investigator

Name
Rema Hanna
Affiliation
Harvard University
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Sudarno Sumarto
PI Affiliation
SMERU
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PI Name
Jordan Kyle
PI Affiliation
Columbia
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PI Name
Benjamin A. Olken
PI Affiliation
MIT
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PI Name
Abhijit Banerjee
PI Affiliation
MIT
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Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2012-10-01
End date
2014-12-31
Keywords
Governance
Additional Keywords
Poverty, Community Participation
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Abstract
The Raskin program is a national program by the Government of Indonesia (GOI) that provides subsidized rice to the poor. It is the largest social assistance program in Indonesia. However, many households fail to receive their entitled subsidy. The study aims to test two aspects: (1) whether providing identification cards for beneficiaries reduces leakages and (2) whether allowing competition for the right to distribute Raskin within the village will improve the program efficiency. The project is being conducted in 572 villages and comprises two phases. During the first phase, the GOI is testing the effect of providing beneficiaries with Government issued different types of Raskin ID cards and is testing whether the effect of the cards differs by how intensive the information campaigns surrounding the cards is. During the project’s second phase, we will randomly assign the village to either a community distribution treatment, an information treatment, or a control group. In the community distribution treatment, community members will be given a chance to bid for the right to distribute Raskin in randomly selected villages (the parameters of the bidding are also being varied); in the monitoring treatment, meetings will be held to provide information on the state of the Raskin program to community members.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Banerjee, Abhijit et al. 2014. "Transparency in anti-poverty programs." AEA RCT Registry. March 20. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.96-2.0
Former Citation
Banerjee, Abhijit et al. 2014. "Transparency in anti-poverty programs." AEA RCT Registry. March 20. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/96/history/1355
Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention (1): Test the effect of providing identification cards to beneficiaries. This is done by introducing identification cards for Raskin beneficiary households in 378 villages (out of 572 villages). In 192 of these villages (randomly selected), there will be an enhanced information campaign on how to use the identification cards, consisting of a one-time meeting with village leaders and additional informational posters in the villages.
Intervention (2): Engage community in the distribution of Raskin in the village, by conducting an open bid process to determine who distributes Raskin (in 191 villages), or by conducting a community meeting to disseminate information on how Raskin is distributed (in 96 villages)
Intervention Start Date
2012-10-01
Intervention End Date
2014-02-28

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Implementation and process, price, leakage (quantity received, subsidy received) and targeting, satisfaction (please see pre-analysis plan in Hypothesis Registry)
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We sampled 572 villages, each of which possessed Raskin beneficiary households. Out of these 572 villages, 378 villages were randomly selected to receive Raskin identification cards. Of these 378 villages, 192 villages were visited by facilitators, who posted informational posters in the village and conducted a meeting with the village’s community leaders to explain how the Raskin card is used.

After six months, facilitators return to 287 out of the 572 villages above, where we engage the community in the distribution of Raskin in the village, by conducting an open bid to determine who distributes Raskin (in 191 villages), or by conducting a community meeting to disseminate information on how Raskin is distributed (in 96 villages).

The goal is to compare the outcome of those receiving Raskin identification cards, enhanced socialization and/or community engagement (the control group) with those who did not (the control group) in order to estimate the impacts of increasing program transparency of and engaging community in the distribution of Raskin. We will interview households in the 572 villages over the course of a year (specifically after 3 months, 7 months and 14 months) to conduct short and longer-term follow-ups.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
randomization done in office by a computer
Randomization Unit
village
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
572 villages
Sample size: planned number of observations
4,572 households
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
Intervention (1): 378 villages were randomly selected to receive Raskin identification cards and 194 villages as control.
Intervention (2): 191 villages conducted an open bid to determine who distributes Raskin, 96 village conducted a community meeting to disseminate information on how Raskin is distributed and 285 villages as control.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Colombia
IRB Approval Date
2012-07-10
IRB Approval Number
IRB –AAAK2111
IRB Name
COUHES
IRB Approval Date
2012-05-17
IRB Approval Number
1204005012
IRB Name
Harvard
IRB Approval Date
2012-07-11
IRB Approval Number
F22629-101
Analysis Plan

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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