Challenges to Replication and Iteration in Field Experiments: Evidence from Two Direct Mail Shots

Jake Bowers, Nathaniel Higgins, Dean Karlan, Sarah Tulman and Jonathan Zinman

American Economic Review, 2017, vol. 107, issue 5, 462-65

Abstract: We conducted an experiment marketing microloans to farmers in the USA during Spring 2015 and found a simple direct mail letter increased borrowing from a government program. The subsequent spring, we built on this finding and enriched the design to test for information spillovers. The direct effect result did not replicate in the second year, thus lowering the likelihood that spillovers would be present and detectable. These results add to recent evidence on how (seemingly subtle) differences in context and treatment content affect consumer responses.

JEL-codes: C93 D12 G21 M31 Q12 Q14 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
Note: DOI: 10.1257/aer.p20171060
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/aer.p20171060 (application/pdf)
https://www.aeaweb.org/articles/attachments?retrie ... eCF7m3375Se6vbqg9JTC (application/pdf)
https://www.aeaweb.org/articles/attachments?retrie ... w_FdEt6uVkNsnmtl6SKQ (application/zip)
Access to full text is restricted to AEA members and institutional subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aea:aecrev:v:107:y:2017:i:5:p:462-65

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.aeaweb.org/journals/subscriptions

Access Statistics for this article

American Economic Review is currently edited by Esther Duflo

More articles in American Economic Review from American Economic Association Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Michael P. Albert ().