Connecting Basic Human Values and Behavioural Economics

Last registered on September 22, 2020
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Connecting Basic Human Values and Behavioural Economics
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0006483
Initial registration date
September 21, 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
September 22, 2020, 7:47 AM EDT

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

Locations

Country
Germany
Region
Country
Poland
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Mario Scharfbillig
Affiliation
JRC - European Commission
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2020-09-22
End date
2021-02-28
Keywords
Behavior
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Abstract
While behavioural economics has considerably profited from incorporating insights from other social scientific fields into economics, it has mostly applied each finding separately. For example, loss aversion, altruism, or guilt aversion have greatly enriched the set of behavioural measures in improving decision-making modelling. However, a major structural driver of behaviour, namely basic human values have so far been neglected. Yet, both the theory of human values (Schwartz 1992) and behavioural economics share the goal of uncovering the fundamental drivers of what people ultimately want. This study aims to close this gap by relating human values to the most prominent behavioural economic concepts with two samples from Germany and Poland.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Scharfbillig, Mario. 2020. "Connecting Basic Human Values and Behavioural Economics." AEA RCT Registry. September 22. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.6483-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2020-09-22
Intervention End Date
2020-11-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
The 19 Human Values in Schwartz et al. (2012): Self-transcendence, composed by the values of Universalism, Tolerance, Nature and Commitment, Benevolence, Care and Dependence, Humility; Conservation, composed of Interpersonal Conformity and Conformity with Rules, Tradition, Social and Personal Safety; Self-enhancement, which includes the values of Power over Resources and Power of Domination, Achievement, and Face; and Openness to Change, consisting of Hedonism, Stimulation, and Self-direction of Thought and Action
The behavioural measures in Falk et al. (2018): time preference, risk preference, positive and negative reciprocity, altruism, and trust
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
For the basic human values, we use confirmatory factor analysis to get the each value from the three underlying questions in the survey, exactly as in Schwartz et al. (2012).

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Big Five Personality Traits
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Survey of behavioural economics measures and the newest measure of the Schwartz survey method. The survey is written in English, German and Polish and hosted on one server in Poland. It will be administered inline to students of two of the researchers involved and snowballed to receive a big enough sample.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
None required for sampling. The questions of the survey are randomized bloc-wise to counter order effects.
Randomization Unit
None
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
2
Sample size: planned number of observations
250 individuals, about half in Germany, half in Poland.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
250 total, no separate treatment arms.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Gemeinsame Ethikkommission Wirtschaftswissenschaften der Goethe-Universität Frankfurt und der Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
IRB Approval Date
2020-09-18
IRB Approval Number
N/A
Analysis Plan

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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