Identifying communication spillovers in lab-in-the-field experiments&x2729;

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Coutts, Alexander
• 署名单位: York University - Canada
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0304-3878
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2022.102845
• 发表日期: 2022
• 关键词: Lab-in-the-field; public goods games; field experiments; Development; Rwanda; COMMUNICATION; spillovers; SUTVA; social learning

摘要

Use of lab-in-the-field experiments has steadily increased, given benefits of studying relevant populations and their preferences. In the field, researchers must often relinquish the control of a standard laboratory, raising the specter of communication from past to future participants. Little is known about the consequences of such spillovers, and recent literature indicates variation in how authors deal with them. I provide estimates of communication spillovers using existing data from public goods games in Rwanda, leveraging variation in planning the sequence of visiting 147 villages. The resulting order created opportunities for some villages to communicate with past participants. Using ex-post matching of villages with and without these opportunities I find that communication led to substantial increases in cooperation, suggesting that unanticipated spillovers can bias inference. I conclude with advice for creating protocols to deal with communication spillovers.