Document Type
Discussion Paper
Publication Date
4-1-2018
CFDP Number
2127R
CFDP Revision Date
May 1, 2019
CFDP Pages
98
Abstract
Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) enroll hundreds of millions of subjects and involve many human lives. To improve subjects’ welfare, I propose a design of RCTs that I call Experiment-as-Market (EXAM). EXAM produces a Pareto efficient allocation of treatment assignment probabilities, is asymptotically incentive compatible for preference elicitation, and unbiasedly estimates any causal effect estimable with standard RCTs. I quantify these properties by applying EXAM to a water cleaning experiment in Kenya (Kremer et al., 2011). In this empirical setting, compared to standard RCTs, EXAM substantially improves subjects’ predicted well-being while reaching similar treatment effect estimates with similar precision.
Recommended Citation
Narita, Yusuke, "Experiment-as-Market: Incorporating Welfare into Randomized Controlled Trials" (2018). Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers. 147.
https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/cowles-discussion-paper-series/147