Public Attitudes Towards European Solidarity in the Green Transition: A Conjoint Experiment on Climate Change Mitigation Policy

Last registered on May 17, 2023
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Public Attitudes Towards European Solidarity in the Green Transition: A Conjoint Experiment on Climate Change Mitigation Policy
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0010463
Initial registration date
November 25, 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
December 02, 2022, 3:49 PM EST

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

Last updated
May 17, 2023, 3:48 AM EDT

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

Locations

Country
Germany
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Sharon Baute
Affiliation
University of Konstanz
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Marius Busemeyer
PI Affiliation
University of Konstanz
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2022-12-07
End date
2023-01-30
Keywords
Behavior, Electoral, Governance, Welfare
Additional Keywords
Climate change, European solidarity, inequality, conjoint experiment
JEL code(s)
D63, H53, Q54
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
This study examines the public preferences for European programs to mitigate climate change. To this end, the study draws on a conjoint survey experiment to be fielded among the German population. Heterogeneity in the effects of the policy dimensions will be analysed.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Baute, Sharon and Marius Busemeyer. 2023. "Public Attitudes Towards European Solidarity in the Green Transition: A Conjoint Experiment on Climate Change Mitigation Policy." AEA RCT Registry. May 17. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.10463-2.0
Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Conjoint experiment in which respondents are asked to evaluate different European climate change mitigation policy packages.
Intervention Start Date
2023-01-11
Intervention End Date
2023-01-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Two types of outcome variables are included in the conjoint experiment: a forced choice variable and a rating variable.

1. Forced choice variable
Which of the following two options for this European climate change mitigation program do you prefer?
Binary choice variable: Option 1, Option 2

2. Rating variable
Rating variable 1: How much are you in favour or against Option 1?
5-point scale:
1 = Strongly in favour
2 = Somewhat in favour
3 = Neither in favour, nor against
4 = Somewhat against
5 = Strongly against

Rating variable 2: How much are you in favour or against Option 2?
5-point scale:
1 = Strongly in favour
2 = Somewhat in favour
3 = Neither in favour, nor against
4 = Somewhat against
5 = Strongly against
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
We also investigate whether there are interaction effects between the different policy dimensions. Furthermore, we will conduct heterogeneity analyses by respondents’ characteristics, such as socio-economic status, climate attitudes, EU attitude, ideological orientation and political affiliation.
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
A conjoint experiment is designed to investigate public preferences for European solidarity in the green transition. At the beginning of the experiment, respondents read a short introduction about the policy proposal for the European green transition. We then ask respondents to evaluate three pairs of randomly assigned policy packages. This implies that each respondent will be presented six packages in total. Each package consists of four policy attributes. Each of these attributes has two or four levels. The four attributes with two or four levels produce a conjoint design of 128 possible unique profiles (2*4*4*4). After each iteration of the experiment, respondents are asked three questions: One choice and two rating questions. The forced-choice question asks respondents which of the two proposals they prefer, resulting in a dichotomous choice variable. The rating questions ask respondents to which degree they support or oppose the first and second policy option respectively, measured on a five-point scale.
Experimental Design Details


Randomization Method
Randomization by computer (Sawtooth software).
Randomization Unit
Randomization at the individual level.
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
6,000 individuals.
Sample size: planned number of observations
6,000 individuals, each conducting three rounds of choosing one out of two randomly varied policy packages and rating them both. In total, the number of observations in the conjoint experiment is thus 36,000 (6,000*3*2) observations.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
300 design versions will be randomly assigned to 6,000 individuals.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Ethics Committee of the University of Konstanz
IRB Approval Date
2023-02-20
IRB Approval Number
IRB23KN02-005/w
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