Brief Description of Research
The CANDOUR project conducts global research on issues related to health, economics, and politics. CANDOUR was initiated in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It began initially as a national representative survey of twelve countries. Results from the study informed the COVID-19 vaccine allocation policy making process by identifying public preferences for the prioritization of COVID-19 vaccines. The study results have been published in leading scientific journals including Nature Medicine, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and Health Economics.
CANDOUR is currently conducting the second-year panel of the initial COVID-19 survey – in this 2022 round there will be 18 countries surveyed. A focus of the CANDOUR team over the past year has been implementing experiments designed to assess the impact of financial incentives on the uptake of the COVID-19 vaccines. An online field experiment conducted in the Spring, 2021 in the U.S. found that financial incentives., as opposed to standard health messaging, generated more interest in getting the vaccine. The CANDOUR team is currently conducting a large-scale Random Control Trial in rural Ghana, with over 7,000 subjects, estimating the impact of financial incentives on actual COVID-19 vaccine update.
The team of scholars participating in the CANDOUR projects, described in the Team tab, have stellar international reputations for the design and implementation of experimental studies concerning preferences and behaviour related to health, economics, and politics.
The CANDOUR projects have been supported by grants from the National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Centre at the University of Oxford, the EuroQol Research Foundation, Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA), Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science, and International Decision Support Initiative.
The Project Team
Professors Philip Clarke and Ray Duch are the Principal Investigators on the CANDOUR Project. The current team of scholars collaborating on the project include the following:
Research Associates

Professor Philip Clarke
Health Economics Research Centre
Nuffield Department of Population Health

Ray Duch
Nuffield College
University of Oxford

Peter Loewen
Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy
University of Toronto

Thomas Robinson
Durham University

Laurence Roope
Nuffield Department of Population Health
University of Oxford

Mara Violato
Nuffield Department of Population Health
University of Oxford

Thomas Rouyard
Hitotsubashi Institute for Advanced Study
Hitotsubashi University

Sonja Vogt
Faculty of Business and Economics
University of Lausanne

Alexey Zakharov
Higher School of Economics
National Research University

Edward Asiedu
University of Ghana Business School

Mariana Blanco
Facultad de Economia
Universidad del Rosario
Bogota

Jean-Francois Bonnefon
Toulouse School of Economics
Toulouse

Julia Seither
Facultad de Economia
Universidad del Rosario
Bogota

Jorge Friedman
Faculty of Administration and Economics
University of Santiago Chile

Juan Vargas
Facultad de Economia
Universidad del Rosario
Bogota

Alessia Melegaro
University of Bocconi
Milan

Pavan Mamidi
Center for Social and Behavioral Change
New Delhi, Delhi, India

Carlos Yevenes
University of Santiago Chile

Ryota Nakamura
Hitotsubashi Institute for Advanced Study
Hitotsubashi University
Pre- and Post-Docs

Maciej Filipek
Vienna

Matias Fuentes
Chile

Ariel Ignacio
USACH

Zachary Abel
University of Oxford

Yuki Atsusaka
Rice University

Ahra Wu
Hamilton College

An Jimenez
MIT
Administration

Carmen Paz Lara

Melanie Sawers
Current Projects
➤ CANDOUR II
Identities, Global COVID-19 Pandemic and National Cooperation
This pre-registration report set out an analysis plan for the public goods game experiment embedded within the second wave of COVID-19 vaccine preference and Opinion Survey (or CANDOUR II study). The study involves a sample of 1200 residents from each of 18 countries interviewed via an anonymous online survey. The purpose of this document is to outline analyses plans after pilot testing, but prior to analysis of the data.
COVID-19: Global Responsibility Attribution
This pre-registration report set out an analysis plan for the COVID-19 vaccine preference and Opinion Survey (or CANDOUR study). This is the second wave of the CANDOUR study (CANDOUR Wave II). The study involves samples of residents from each of 18 countries who were selected to reflect the population distribution on key socio-economic variables: age, gender, income, education, and region. In each country we interview between 1200 respondents via an anonymous online survey. The online conjoint survey experiment is designed to assess the factors that shape how global citizens hold their elected officials responsible for COVID-19- related outcomes.
COVID-19 Reshaping Global Economic Preferences
This pre-registration report sets out a plan for the analysis of the effect of exposure to COVID-19 on economic and redistribution preferences. Data for the observational study will begathered within the second wave of COVID-19 vaccine preference and opinion survey (or CANDOUR study) that will involve a sample of 1200 residents from each of 19 countries interviewedvia an anonymous online survey. The purpose of this document is to outline analyses plans afterpilot testing, but prior to analysis of the data.
➤ Ghana Vaccine Incentive
Ghana COVID-19 Vaccinations and Financial Incentives
Achieving global vaccination against COVID-19 is a critical worldwide challenge. While COVAX is planning mass vaccination of Africa in 2022, there are substantial challenges. Cash incentives have been proposed as a way to improve the efficiency and equity of the roll-out in Africa. Recent experimental evidence suggests that financial incentives can promote the adoption of preventive health habits (Hussam etal 2022) and more specifically vaccine uptake (Campos Mercade etal 2021). To evaluate whether cash incentives affect the willingness to get the COVID-19 vaccine, we are undertaking a field experiment, designed and conducted in consultation with the University of Ghana and the Ghana Health Service. The experiment will evaluate the impact of cash incentives on vaccine uptake.
➤ Articles

Vacunación contra el COVID-19 en Colombia: opinión pública sobre su priorización y distribución
Juan Vargas (Universidad del Rosario), Raymond Duch (Universidad de Oxford), Shana Warren (IPA Global), Margarita Cabra (IPA Colombia), Ana María Díaz (DNP)

Citizens from 13 countries share similar preferences for COVID-19 vaccine allocation priorities
Raymond Duch, Laurence S. J. Roope, Mara Violato, Matias Fuentes Becerra, Thomas S. Robinson, Jean-Francois Bonnefon, Jorge Friedman, Peter John Loewen, Pavan Mamidi, Alessia Melegaro, Mariana Blanco, Juan Vargas, Julia Seither, Paolo Candio, Ana Gibertoni Cruz, Xinyang Hua, Adrian Barnett, and Philip M. Clarke
September 21, 2021

Lessons from the pandemic on the value of research infrastructure
Laurence S. J. Roope, Paolo Candio, Vasiliki Kiparoglou, Helen McShane, Raymond Duch & Philip M. Clarke
April 1, 2021

Public opinion on global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines
Philip M. Clarke, Laurence S. J. Roope, Peter John Loewen, Jean-Francois Bonnefon, Alessia Melegaro, Jorge Friedman, Mara Violato, Adrian Barnett & Raymond Duch
March 30, 2021


How should a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine be allocated? Health economists need to be ready to take the baton
Laurence S. J. Roope, John Buckell, Frauke Becker, Paolo Candio, Mara Violato, Jody L. Sindelar, Adrian Barnett, Raymond Duch & Philip M. Clarke
September 3, 2020
➤ Papers
Cash versus Lotteries: COVID-19 Vaccine Incentives Experiment
Raymond M. Duch, Adrian Barnett, Maciej Filipek, Laurence Roope, Mara Violato, Philip Clarke
July 28, 2021
CANDOUR Pre-Registration: COVID-19 Vaccine Preference and Opinion Survey
Philip Clarke, Raymond M. Duch, Laurence Roope & Mara Violato
December 14, 2020
➤ News

PM should rethink Labor's suggestion of cash for vax
Anthony Albanese MP, leader of the Australian Labor Party
August 17, 2021

Who should get the coronavirus vaccine first? France and the UK have different answers
November 16, 2020