Intervention(s)
We will administer a survey to a sample provided by the company ResearchNow, of about 800 respondents residing in Canada.
A random subsample of respondents will read information about the demand and supply for plasma in Canada and the US, with also some reference to the fact that compensating donors is not allowed in many Canadian provinces, but a large share of plasma used in Canada is imported from the U.S., where donors are paid. Of the about 400 subjects who will read this text, a random half will then be asked to express their opinion about whether payments should be allowed in the U.S. and the other half will express an opinion as of whether payments to plasma donors should be allowed in Canada. According to whether the subjects responded positively or negatively regarding their support for payments, we will subsequently ask how much the respondents agree with some motivations for their answers. The sentences that express these motivations stress aspects such as the morality of allowing or not allowing payments, the risk of attracting donors with transmittable diseases if payments were allowed, and the importance (or not) to guarantee a sufficient domestic supply.
The remaining 400 respondents will read a similar text where, instead of comparing Canada and the U.S, the comparison will be between the U.S. and Australia, another country where compensation is not allowed and that is a net importer of plasma. A random subsample of about 200 respondents will again express an opinion about payments in the U.S, whereas the remaining 200 respondents will express opinions about allowing payments in Australia. As for the previous 400 subjects, the question about expressing support for payments will be followed by a request to rate the importance of different reasons for the response.
We will then compare the shares of individuals expressing favour for payments in the three countries. Because all respondents are from the same country, we are particularly interested in assessing the presence of absence of differences in approval rates, especially between the two countries were payments are not allowed. The additional questions about the motives behind the support or opposition will further help identifying moral NIMBYism as a cause of any difference.
In a separate survey with 400 American respondents, conducted via MTurk, we will provide information about the allocation and procurement of kidneys for transplants -- in the U.S. for a random half of the sample, and in Canada for the remaining half. Following a structure that is similar to the survey described above, we will ask subjects to express their support or opposition to paying kidney donors in the U.S, and to paying kidney donors in Canada. Again, the fact that the respondents are all from the same country, and the additional questions about the "qualifiers" of the opposition or support to payments, will help identifying differences in positions that we may reconduct to some form of different moral views according to the proximity of the issue. Note that in the case of kidney procurements, payments are illegal in both the U.S. and Canada.