Design of two-stage experiments with an application to spillovers in tax compliance

Autores
Cruces, Guillermo Antonio; Tortarolo, Dario; Vazquez Bare, Gonzalo
Año de publicación
2022
Idioma
inglés
Tipo de recurso
artículo
Estado
versión publicada
Descripción
We set up a framework to conduct experiments for estimating spillover effects when units are grouped into mutually exclusive clusters. We improve upon existing methods by allowing for heteroskedasticity, intra-cluster correlation and cluster size heterogeneity, which are typically ignored when designing experiments. We show that ignoring these factors can severely overestimate power and underestimate minimum detectable effects. We derive formulas for optimal group-level assignment probabilities and the power function used to calculate power, sample size, and minimum detectable effects. We apply our methods to the design of a large-scale randomized communication campaign in a municipality of Argentina to estimate total and neighborhood spillover effects on property tax compliance. Besides the increase in tax compliance of individuals directly targeted with our mailing, we find evidence of spillover effects on untreated individuals in street blocks where a high proportion of taxpayers were notified.
Fil: Cruces, Guillermo Antonio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas. Departamento de Ciencias Económicas. Centro de Estudios Distributivos Laborales y Sociales; Argentina
Fil: Tortarolo, Dario. University of Nottingham; Estados Unidos
Fil: Vazquez Bare, Gonzalo. University of California; Estados Unidos
Materia
TAX COMPLIANCE
SPILLOVERS
Nivel de accesibilidad
acceso abierto
Condiciones de uso
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ar/
Repositorio
CONICET Digital (CONICET)
Institución
Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
OAI Identificador
oai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/215474

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network_name_str CONICET Digital (CONICET)
spelling Design of two-stage experiments with an application to spillovers in tax complianceCruces, Guillermo AntonioTortarolo, DarioVazquez Bare, GonzaloTAX COMPLIANCESPILLOVERShttps://purl.org/becyt/ford/5.2https://purl.org/becyt/ford/5We set up a framework to conduct experiments for estimating spillover effects when units are grouped into mutually exclusive clusters. We improve upon existing methods by allowing for heteroskedasticity, intra-cluster correlation and cluster size heterogeneity, which are typically ignored when designing experiments. We show that ignoring these factors can severely overestimate power and underestimate minimum detectable effects. We derive formulas for optimal group-level assignment probabilities and the power function used to calculate power, sample size, and minimum detectable effects. We apply our methods to the design of a large-scale randomized communication campaign in a municipality of Argentina to estimate total and neighborhood spillover effects on property tax compliance. Besides the increase in tax compliance of individuals directly targeted with our mailing, we find evidence of spillover effects on untreated individuals in street blocks where a high proportion of taxpayers were notified.Fil: Cruces, Guillermo Antonio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas. Departamento de Ciencias Económicas. Centro de Estudios Distributivos Laborales y Sociales; ArgentinaFil: Tortarolo, Dario. University of Nottingham; Estados UnidosFil: Vazquez Bare, Gonzalo. University of California; Estados Unidoslnstitute for Fiscal Studies2022-08info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionhttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501info:ar-repo/semantics/articuloapplication/pdfapplication/pdfapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/11336/215474Cruces, Guillermo Antonio; Tortarolo, Dario; Vazquez Bare, Gonzalo; Design of two-stage experiments with an application to spillovers in tax compliance; lnstitute for Fiscal Studies; Institute for Fiscal Studies Working Papers; 32; 8-2022; 1-632197-7070CONICET DigitalCONICETenginfo:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/url/https://ifs.org.uk/publications/design-two-stage-experiments-application-spillovers-tax-complianceinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccesshttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ar/reponame:CONICET Digital (CONICET)instname:Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas2025-09-03T10:08:58Zoai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/215474instacron:CONICETInstitucionalhttp://ri.conicet.gov.ar/Organismo científico-tecnológicoNo correspondehttp://ri.conicet.gov.ar/oai/requestdasensio@conicet.gov.ar; lcarlino@conicet.gov.arArgentinaNo correspondeNo correspondeNo correspondeopendoar:34982025-09-03 10:08:59.024CONICET Digital (CONICET) - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicasfalse
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Design of two-stage experiments with an application to spillovers in tax compliance
title Design of two-stage experiments with an application to spillovers in tax compliance
spellingShingle Design of two-stage experiments with an application to spillovers in tax compliance
Cruces, Guillermo Antonio
TAX COMPLIANCE
SPILLOVERS
title_short Design of two-stage experiments with an application to spillovers in tax compliance
title_full Design of two-stage experiments with an application to spillovers in tax compliance
title_fullStr Design of two-stage experiments with an application to spillovers in tax compliance
title_full_unstemmed Design of two-stage experiments with an application to spillovers in tax compliance
title_sort Design of two-stage experiments with an application to spillovers in tax compliance
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Cruces, Guillermo Antonio
Tortarolo, Dario
Vazquez Bare, Gonzalo
author Cruces, Guillermo Antonio
author_facet Cruces, Guillermo Antonio
Tortarolo, Dario
Vazquez Bare, Gonzalo
author_role author
author2 Tortarolo, Dario
Vazquez Bare, Gonzalo
author2_role author
author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv TAX COMPLIANCE
SPILLOVERS
topic TAX COMPLIANCE
SPILLOVERS
purl_subject.fl_str_mv https://purl.org/becyt/ford/5.2
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/5
dc.description.none.fl_txt_mv We set up a framework to conduct experiments for estimating spillover effects when units are grouped into mutually exclusive clusters. We improve upon existing methods by allowing for heteroskedasticity, intra-cluster correlation and cluster size heterogeneity, which are typically ignored when designing experiments. We show that ignoring these factors can severely overestimate power and underestimate minimum detectable effects. We derive formulas for optimal group-level assignment probabilities and the power function used to calculate power, sample size, and minimum detectable effects. We apply our methods to the design of a large-scale randomized communication campaign in a municipality of Argentina to estimate total and neighborhood spillover effects on property tax compliance. Besides the increase in tax compliance of individuals directly targeted with our mailing, we find evidence of spillover effects on untreated individuals in street blocks where a high proportion of taxpayers were notified.
Fil: Cruces, Guillermo Antonio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas. Departamento de Ciencias Económicas. Centro de Estudios Distributivos Laborales y Sociales; Argentina
Fil: Tortarolo, Dario. University of Nottingham; Estados Unidos
Fil: Vazquez Bare, Gonzalo. University of California; Estados Unidos
description We set up a framework to conduct experiments for estimating spillover effects when units are grouped into mutually exclusive clusters. We improve upon existing methods by allowing for heteroskedasticity, intra-cluster correlation and cluster size heterogeneity, which are typically ignored when designing experiments. We show that ignoring these factors can severely overestimate power and underestimate minimum detectable effects. We derive formulas for optimal group-level assignment probabilities and the power function used to calculate power, sample size, and minimum detectable effects. We apply our methods to the design of a large-scale randomized communication campaign in a municipality of Argentina to estimate total and neighborhood spillover effects on property tax compliance. Besides the increase in tax compliance of individuals directly targeted with our mailing, we find evidence of spillover effects on untreated individuals in street blocks where a high proportion of taxpayers were notified.
publishDate 2022
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2022-08
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
info:ar-repo/semantics/articulo
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/11336/215474
Cruces, Guillermo Antonio; Tortarolo, Dario; Vazquez Bare, Gonzalo; Design of two-stage experiments with an application to spillovers in tax compliance; lnstitute for Fiscal Studies; Institute for Fiscal Studies Working Papers; 32; 8-2022; 1-63
2197-7070
CONICET Digital
CONICET
url http://hdl.handle.net/11336/215474
identifier_str_mv Cruces, Guillermo Antonio; Tortarolo, Dario; Vazquez Bare, Gonzalo; Design of two-stage experiments with an application to spillovers in tax compliance; lnstitute for Fiscal Studies; Institute for Fiscal Studies Working Papers; 32; 8-2022; 1-63
2197-7070
CONICET Digital
CONICET
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv eng
language eng
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/url/https://ifs.org.uk/publications/design-two-stage-experiments-application-spillovers-tax-compliance
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ar/
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ar/
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
application/pdf
application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv lnstitute for Fiscal Studies
publisher.none.fl_str_mv lnstitute for Fiscal Studies
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:CONICET Digital (CONICET)
instname:Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
reponame_str CONICET Digital (CONICET)
collection CONICET Digital (CONICET)
instname_str Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
repository.name.fl_str_mv CONICET Digital (CONICET) - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
repository.mail.fl_str_mv dasensio@conicet.gov.ar; lcarlino@conicet.gov.ar
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