Sustainable Finance Literacy and Sustainable Investment Behavior

Last registered on July 31, 2023

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Sustainable Finance Literacy and Sustainable Investment Behavior
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0011325
Initial registration date
April 24, 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
May 03, 2023, 4:04 PM EDT

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

Last updated
July 31, 2023, 6:57 AM EDT

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

Locations

Region

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
Justus-Liebig-Universität Giessen

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Affiliation
Justus-Liebig-Universität Giessen
PI Affiliation
Justus-Liebig-Universität Giessen

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2023-04-25
End date
2023-08-01
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
We investigate the influence of Sustainable Finance Literacy on Sustainable Investment Behavior using an experiment.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Auzepy, Alix, Christina Bannier and Florian Gärtner. 2023. "Sustainable Finance Literacy and Sustainable Investment Behavior." AEA RCT Registry. July 31. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.11325-2.0
Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
We will increase the Sustainable Finance Literacy of our treatment group by providing a brochure that explains important ESG-related information within the regulatory environment of the EU.
Intervention (Hidden)
We investigate the influence of sustainable finance literacy on sustainable investment behavior. We understand "sustainable finance literacy" as the knowledge of regulations, norms, and standards about financial products that have sustainable characteristics, and "sustainable investment behavior" as the act of investing in funds that adhere to ESG criteria. We develop an information brochure that briefly explains what "ESG" means, which strategies funds use to develop sustainable financial products, the regulatory approach of the SFDR (Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation, the relevant European regulation financial products with respect to sustainability), and how to identify sustainable investments based on their SFDR article. We provide this brochure to the treatment group, but not the control group.
Intervention Start Date
2023-04-25
Intervention End Date
2023-07-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Sustainable Investment Behaviour
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
We measure sustainable investment behavior using two different approaches. First, we give participants four choices between three funds per choice and measure in which funds they invest. One or two funds are sustainable, while the other(s) is/are not. Second, we ask our participants which criteria from a semi-closed list consisting of 9 fixed items they have used for their decision, with the option to add additional criteria. One criterion is sustainability.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Survey experiment; the treatment group is provided with an informational brochure, while the control group is not.
Experimental Design Details
In general: See the enclosed Analysis plan which provides an outline of our experiment.

We run a survey experiment where the treatment group is provided with an informational brochure, while the control group is not. We conduct this experiment with students and on Prolific, and possibly with the customers of a German bank or a fintech company. At the time of this preregistration, the participation of these additional organizations in our experiment has not been confirmed yet, but we needed to start on April 25th with our student sample, which is why we preregistered at this time.
On Prolific and the possible customer sample, the experiment will only have one stage. We will begin with the experimental manipulation. We will then continue with the financial decisions and finally ask the questions required to gain data for the control variables. On Prolific, we additionally apply the de Qidt et al (2018 AER) method to control for experimenter demand effects. This means that we split the treatment group into three groups. In each treatment group, we will show the brochure. In the "no demand" group, we will not communicate any expectations. In the "negative demand" treatment, we will inform participants directly before the four decisions that we expect less sustainable investments than they normally would. In the "positive demand" treatment, we will inform participants directly before the four decisions that we expect more sustainable investments than they normally would. We will use these three treatments for bounding the real effect of the brochure.
For the student sample, we will utilize a two-time point experimental design. On the first date, we will randomly assign our participants to the two conditions, measure all control variables, and assess sustainable finance literacy. We will conduct this first wave on April 25th 2023. On the second date, May 23rd, we will collect data on our participants' financial decisions, and measure sustainable finance literacy again. This time delay allows us to test whether the effect of increased sustainable finance literacy persists over at least one month. We do not use this paradigm on the other samples as we anticipate sample attrition problems.
Randomization Method
Computer
Randomization Unit
Individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
- One class of students
- Prolific
- Potentially customers of three different banks and one fintech company
Sample size: planned number of observations
1150+
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
- As many students as possible (we aim for around 150; as of now 237 students have applied to the online platform of the lecture in which we collect the data, but of course we do not know how many will actually appear and participate on both dates, so 150 is a rough estimate)
- 1000 participants on prolific, with an expected value of 250 in each treatment (before randomization)
- an unknown number of customers of three different banks and one fintech company
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
German Association for Experimental Economic Research e.V Institutional Review Board
IRB Approval Date
2023-04-24
IRB Approval Number
y7wVNIC9
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