Private Investors and ESG Investments

Last registered on November 04, 2022

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Private Investors and ESG Investments
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0010353
Initial registration date
November 03, 2022

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
November 04, 2022, 1:32 PM EDT

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

Locations

Region

Primary Investigator

Affiliation

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Affiliation
Goethe University Frankfurt
PI Affiliation
Goethe University Frankfurt
PI Affiliation
Goethe University Frankfurt and Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2022-11-09
End date
2022-12-09
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
We cooperate with a large German retail bank and combine administrative bank data with online survey data to examine the motivations and obstacles of retail investors to invest under the consideration of ESG criteria. In the course of the survey, we will randomly allocate participants to a control group, or to one of three information treatments. In the information treatments, we expose participants to true, openly available information about ESG-investments. Post-treatment questions and the administrative data, which include investment and trading records, allow us to study the effects of the information treatments on intended and actual investment choices, as well as underlying mechanisms.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Grossmann, Max et al. 2022. "Private Investors and ESG Investments." AEA RCT Registry. November 04. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.10353-1.0
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2022-11-09
Intervention End Date
2022-12-09

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Investment decision
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
Participants’ allocation of an experimental endowment to either an ESG- or a non-ESG investment fund. We expect participants in the treatment groups to allocate more of their experimental endowment in ESG funds than participants in the control group.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Administrative bank data; login activity
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)
We observe administrative bank data for the participants in our sample.
- We expect participants in the treatment groups to purchase more high-ESG stocks and to sell more low-ESG stocks after the survey, compared to the control group.
- We expect participants in the treatment groups to log into their trading accounts more, compared to the control group.

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
A welcome screen and a consent form are followed by some questions about general (non-)financial behavior, as well as an elicitation about prior ESG knowledge. Participants are then allocated to one of the treatments or the control group, according to which they receive some additional information, if they are in one of the treatment groups.
We then instruct participants to split an experimental endowment of €10,000 between an ESG fund and a non-ESG fund. For one randomly selected participant, this fund will be purchased on the market and sold after 6 months. The selected participant then receives the proceeds from sales, including all dividend payments, where participants cannot earn more than €500 and cannot make a loss. We give participants some more information about the funds and ask comprehension questions. We conclude with an exit survey.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Simple randomization
Randomization Unit
Individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
The cooperating banks invites ~200.000 of their clients into our voluntary online survey. Based on past experience, we assume a response rate of 2%, so that we expect about 4.000 participants on our survey.
Sample size: planned number of observations
The cooperating banks invites ~200.000 of their clients into our voluntary online survey. Based on past experience, we assume a response rate of 2%, so that we expect about 4.000 participants on our survey.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
We have four groups, participants are allocated randomly, so we expect ~1000 participants per group.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials

Documents

Document Name
IRB Approval
Document Type
irb_protocol
Document Description
File
IRB Approval

MD5: 6c50902ebebf36d5084c5843ce584bd1

SHA1: b99ac473db2f2b5f997efe6e6d85ae2f57a8d7bd

Uploaded At: November 03, 2022

IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Joint Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration of Goethe University Frankfurt and the Gutenberg School of Management & Economics of the Faculty of Law, Management and Economics of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz
IRB Approval Date
2022-10-12
IRB Approval Number
N/A

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