Time and group size inconsistencies in preferences on environmental policy interventions

Last registered on August 21, 2020
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Time and group size inconsistencies in preferences on environmental policy interventions
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0006316
Initial registration date
August 20, 2020

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
August 21, 2020, 10:17 AM EDT

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

Locations

Country
Germany
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Marius Alt
Affiliation
ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2020-08-10
End date
2020-11-30
Keywords
Behavior, Environment & Energy, Governance, Lab
Additional Keywords
individual preferences, pro-environmental behavior, self-commitment devices
JEL code(s)
Q58, D04, C91
Secondary IDs
Abstract
Given subjects have preferences for environmental well-being, but fail to perform pro-environmental behaviors
due to a lack of self-control, they are assumed to have a positive willingness to pay for commitment devices
to enforce pro-environmental behavior. Therefore, I plan to investigate whether there is a positive demand for environmental
policy interventions as self-commitment devices on an individual level and whether the preference
for a certain environmental policy is dependent on the time of implementation and the amount of people affected
by it. In a laboratory experiment, I use a pro-environmental real effort task as an opportunity for subjects to behave
environmentally friendly. Prior to the task, subjects are asked to rank policy intervention according to their
preferences. The policy interventions vary in their degree of external pressure from lenient, in a social comparison
nudge, to strict, given a punishment scheme. Since I hypothesize that the intervention choice is dependent on
the time of implementation of the pro-environmental task and group size affected by the policy, the treatment
varies across two dimensions. Firstly, the time of implementation is varied as subjects must either perform the
pro-environmental task within the same day or with a delay of one week. Secondly, the regulation either affects
only the person choosing the intervention or it affects also others in the group. It is assumed that subjects with
lower self-control demand stricter policy interventions. In addition, the more the task is postponed into the future
and the greater the number of other people affected by the choice, the higher the likelihood of choosing more
compulsory interventions.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Alt, Marius. 2020. "Time and group size inconsistencies in preferences on environmental policy interventions." AEA RCT Registry. August 21. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.6316-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
The design for the laboratory experiment consists of treatment variations across two dimension. The first dimension
is given by the timing of the implementation of the environmental policy regulation. The second dimension is
structured by the number of regulatees affected by a choice on an environmental policy. I implement a two times two between-subject full factorial design. In addition, the treatment variations contain a within-subject component, as on the regulatee-size dimension participants
who are choose an environmental regulation not only for themselves but also for other participants are
asked to make the same choices in case of being paired with one other person and four other individuals. The order
of these choices is randomized across subjects.
Intervention Start Date
2020-08-10
Intervention End Date
2020-11-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
In the regulatee-size dimension, the matter of investigation lies in the difference of this willingness to accept depending onwhether participants decide only for themselves or whether the regulation will also affect others in the group.
In the case of the treatment variations across the time dimension treatment, the effects are slightly weaker. Figure 2
shows the amount of observations per treatment, which would be necessary to detect a significant effect in the
time difference of the willingness to accept to change from no regulation to monetary incentive
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
Difference in willingness to accept to change from the first preference to the second third and fourth preferences will be used to contruct the willingness to accept to not conduct the "NoIcentive" version and conduct either the "Nudge" verison, the "Monetary incentive" version and the "Punishment" version instead.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The design for the laboratory experiment consists of treatment variations across two dimension. The first dimension
is given by the timing of the implementation of the environmental policy regulation. The second dimension is
structured by the number of regulatees affected by a choice on an environmental policy. I implement a two times two between-subject full factorial design.In addition, the treatment variations contain a within-subject component, as on the regulatee-size dimension participants
who are choose an environmental regulation not only for themselves but also for other participants are
asked to make the same choices in case of being paired with one other person and four other individuals. The order
of these choices is randomized across subjects.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Within session randomization of treatment assignment.
Randomization Unit
Individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
400 individuals
Sample size: planned number of observations
400 individuals
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
400 individuals
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
71 observations
Supporting Documents and Materials

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IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

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