Financial Literacy, Ambiguity, and Financial Decisions

Last registered on January 22, 2023
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Financial Literacy, Ambiguity, and Financial Decisions
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0010704
Initial registration date
January 06, 2023

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 22, 2023, 10:44 AM EST

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

Locations

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Primary Investigator

Name
Alessandro Castagnetti
Affiliation
LIUC University
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Giovanni Burro
PI Affiliation
Bocconi University
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Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2023-01-07
End date
2023-05-31
Keywords
Behavior, Finance & Microfinance
Additional Keywords
Financial Literacy, Ambiguity, Financial Decisions
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
This research project aims to understand whether and how a specific form of financial literacy influences invesment choices and attitudes towards uncertainty. In particular, here we want to study whether making individuals think more appropriately in terms of contingent reasoning improves how they think about financial decisions and whether this form of financial literacy shape investment decisions.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Burro, Giovanni and Alessandro Castagnetti. 2023. "Financial Literacy, Ambiguity, and Financial Decisions ." AEA RCT Registry. January 22. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.10704-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2023-01-07
Intervention End Date
2023-05-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
1. Investment Financial Decisions
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
The main outcome variable of this research is to assess the impact of financial literacy (in terms of ambiguity/contingent reasoning) on investment choices.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
1. Beliefs about a stock
2. Confidence of participants in their own choices
3. Ambiguity attitudes
4. The heterogenous effect of memory on investment choices (irrespective of the experimental conditions)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
First, at the outset of the experiment, participants will perform a simple financial literacy questionnaire.
Participants will also be asked to think of what sort of memories financial markets trigger in them.
Following this, participants will be randomly assigned to an experimental condition. The conditions entail the specific financial literacy information disclosed (or absence of it). Thus, participants are asked to make a financial investment decision and are asked about their attitudes towards uncertainty and ambiguity.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Done by the computer software (Qualtrics).
Randomization Unit
Individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
N=750
Sample size: planned number of observations
N=750 However, if the funding is depleted sooner the total number of observations will be lower.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
150 individuals by condition.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Considering a mean investment of 50% of the pot (15 units out of 30) in the control and a standard deviation of 2.5, the experiment is able to detect a change of around 15% at conventional levels (alpha=0.05, 1-beta=0.80)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Università commerciale Luigi Bocconi
IRB Approval Date
2022-12-29
IRB Approval Number
N/A
Analysis Plan