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An experiment on inequality and social comparison

Last registered on April 17, 2019
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
An experiment on inequality and social comparison
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0003789
Initial registration date
January 13, 2019

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
January 14, 2019, 3:18 AM EST

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Last updated
April 17, 2019, 12:20 PM EDT

Last updated is the most recent time when changes to the trial's registration were published.

Locations

Country
United States of America
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Kai Ou
Affiliation
Florida State University
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Elizabeth Penn
PI Affiliation
Emory University
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PI Name
Rebecca Morton
PI Affiliation
New York University NYC and Abu Dhabi
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Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2019-01-21
End date
2019-12-01
Keywords
Education, Gender, Labor, Welfare
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
C91, J31, J38, M12, M52, Z13
Secondary IDs
Abstract
Individuals are more likely to value skills that they are comparatively successful at (Festinger, 1954). At the same time, a person’s success on a particular domain is a consequence of his or her investment on that domain. This investment, in turn, can depend on how much the individual values that domain. That is, with social information, a rational choice must be based not only on the perceived decisions (on education, investment, entertainment, etc.) but also an unobservable selective valuation process in which one assigns a subjective value to the tasks/domains to optimize the observable choices. Studying how differences in values affect the behavior of an individual in tasks has important implications for our understanding of how individuals can optimize their choices and strategies in a society with competitions and social comparisons. In this study, we aim to design an innovative theory-driven experiment to investigate a new theory on social comparisons and estimate the effects of the selective valuation process on inequality, broadly defined. We will establish a new model to capture the characteristics of the selective valuation process in decision-making and derive theoretical predictions. We will then empirically explore the research questions in a controlled laboratory environment.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Morton, Rebecca, Kai Ou and Elizabeth Penn. 2019. "An experiment on inequality and social comparison." AEA RCT Registry. April 17. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.3789-2.0
Former Citation
Morton, Rebecca, Kai Ou and Elizabeth Penn. 2019. "An experiment on inequality and social comparison." AEA RCT Registry. April 17. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/3789/history/45061
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
In a controlled laboratory environment, we will reveal other subjects' performance on a chosen task. Compared to the Baseline in which we do not reveal such information, subjects' behavior may be affected by the intervention.
Intervention Start Date
2019-01-21
Intervention End Date
2019-12-01

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Subjects' performance and effort.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
Subjects' performance and effort will be measured by how many problems they solved correctly and how much time they spent to solve these problems.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
In the Baseline, we do not reveal information on other subjects' performance between Stage 1 and Stage 2. In the Treatment, we will reveal information on other subjects' performance between Stage 1 and Stage 2.
Experimental Design Details
The experiment will consists of two stages. In Stage 1, each subject will be assigned a number of randomly chosen questions and asked to finish these questions as many as possible. For each correctly answered question, a subject will be paid an incentive fee. In Stage 2, subjects will be asked to do exactly the same task with new but the same type of question. Between Stage 1 and Stage 2, according to the experimental design, we will reveal information on other subjects' performance and earning in Stage 1. Compared to the Baseline in which we do not reveal such information, subjects' behavior may be affected by the intervention.
Randomization Method
Subjects will be randomly assigned to the Baseline and Treatments, and depending on the treatment setup, subjects will be randomly assigned information on other subjects' performance.
Randomization Unit
Unit of randomization is the individual.
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
500 undergraduate student subjects.
Sample size: planned number of observations
500 undergraduate student subjects.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
50 subjects for Baseline, 450 subjects for Treatment.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Florida State University IRB
IRB Approval Date
2018-05-07
IRB Approval Number
HSC No. 2018.23644
Analysis Plan

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials