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  4. May 2017
  5. Challenges to Replication and Iteration in Field Experiments: Evidence from Two Direct Mail Shots

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

  • Jake Bowers
  • Nathaniel Higgins
  • Dean Karlan
  • Sarah Tulman
  • Jonathan Zinman
American Economic Review
vol. 107, no. 5, May 2017
(pp. 462-65)
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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.

Citation

Bowers, Jake, Nathaniel Higgins, Dean Karlan, Sarah Tulman, and Jonathan Zinman. 2017. "Challenges to Replication and Iteration in Field Experiments: Evidence from Two Direct Mail Shots." American Economic Review, 107 (5): 462-65. DOI: 10.1257/aer.p20171060

Additional Materials

JEL Classification

  • C93 Field Experiments
  • D12 Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
  • G21 Banks; Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
  • M31 Marketing
  • Q12 Micro Analysis of Farm Firms, Farm Households, and Farm Input Markets
  • Q14 Agricultural Finance