Benchmarking development programs: a preference-based approach

Last registered on April 12, 2018

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Benchmarking development programs: a preference-based approach
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0001371
Initial registration date
June 23, 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
June 23, 2016, 11:29 AM EDT

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

Last updated
April 12, 2018, 4:16 AM EDT

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

Locations

Region

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
Busara Center for Behavioral Economics

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2016-06-23
End date
2017-10-31
Secondary IDs
Abstract
Hundreds of billions of dollars are spent each year on aid programs. In 2014, for example,
OECD countries provided USD 135 billion in official development assistance (OECD,
2014) and US charitable giving to international programs exceeds USD 20 billion (Reuters,
2012). Beyond this, developing country governments allocate substantial sums to programs
intended to benefit the poor and spur development. These billions of dollars are allocated
across a wide variety of programs such as infrastructure, education, health, agriculture and
direct assistance (e.g., subsidized goods, food aid, livestock transfers and cash transfers). A
fundamental problem, impacting the hundreds of millions of individuals reached by aid, is
how best to allocate spending across programs.Yet it is incredibly difficult to decide how to
allocate resources across programs. An important input, among others, into the allocation
decision is how much recipients value particular forms of aid relative to the cost of providing
that aid, including both the value of goods and services received by beneficiaries and the
overhead cost of providing those goods and services.

A central aim of this study is to develop a replicable methodology to rapidly and efficiently
estimate the value of different types of aid to recipients. This information can be used to
determine whether a particular form of aid is valued more highly than its cost and to assess
the relative value of alternative uses of aid funding.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Shapiro, Jeremy. 2018. "Benchmarking development programs: a preference-based approach." AEA RCT Registry. April 12. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.1371-5.0
Former Citation
Shapiro, Jeremy. 2018. "Benchmarking development programs: a preference-based approach." AEA RCT Registry. April 12. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/1371/history/28108
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2016-06-30
Intervention End Date
2016-07-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Values of aid programs relative to costs. Consistency of choice over time.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
See attachment.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Offsite randomization
Randomization Unit
Individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
800
Sample size: planned number of observations
800
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
200
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
KEMRI
IRB Approval Date
2016-06-15
IRB Approval Number
531
Analysis Plan

Analysis Plan Documents

Benchmarking_Aid_Preferences_PAP_20160623+SUBMITTED.pdf

MD5: 4d81bd89682e13bd22f4f9ad0b2c0754

SHA1: 7ca2e54b548efea856ff8bf15279ae57467378aa

Uploaded At: April 12, 2018

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

There is information in this trial unavailable to the public. Use the button below to request access.

Request Information

Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Yes
Data Collection Completion Date
Final Sample Size: Number of Clusters (Unit of Randomization)
Was attrition correlated with treatment status?
Final Sample Size: Total Number of Observations
Final Sample Size (or Number of Clusters) by Treatment Arms
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials

Description
This study proposes a preference-based benchmarking approach to assess trade-offs

between alternative uses of aid dollars. We ask ~800 low-income Kenyans their valuation

(in cash) for common aid and development programs. We compare recipients’ stated
Citation
Shapiro, Jeremy. "Benchmarking development programs: a preference-based approach," October 01, 2017.