Fairness preferences when facing limited information

Last registered on April 04, 2016
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Fairness preferences when facing limited information
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0001151
Initial registration date
April 04, 2016

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
April 04, 2016, 9:32 AM EDT

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

Locations

Country
Norway
Region
Hordaland

Primary Investigator

Name
Alexander Cappelen
Affiliation
The Norwegian School of Economics
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Bertil Tungodden
PI Affiliation
The Norwegian school of economics
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PI Name
Thomas Haan
PI Affiliation
The Norwegian school of economics
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PI Name
Caroline Bonn
PI Affiliation
The Norwegian school of economics
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Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2016-04-04
End date
2017-04-04
Keywords
Welfare
Additional Keywords
Fairness, Inequality, Information
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Abstract
Recent experimental studies show that behavior in distributional situations can be traced back to a variety of fairness ideals and that the majority of people can be characterized as meritocrats distinguishing between personal factors (effort and talent) and impersonal factors (luck) when it comes to the attribution of responsibility for an outcome. However, in many situations the extend to which an achievement is determined by an individual's performance or luck is not directly observable and often remains unknown. In this project, we therefore aim to answer the following research question: What happens to people's willingness to redistribute earnings if there exists uncertainty about the role of luck and merit in the production of these earnings?
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Bonn, Caroline et al. 2016. "Fairness preferences when facing limited information." AEA RCT Registry. April 04. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.1151-1.0
Former Citation
Bonn, Caroline et al. 2016. "Fairness preferences when facing limited information." AEA RCT Registry. April 04. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/1151/history/7487
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2016-04-04
Intervention End Date
2017-04-04

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
In all situations two workers have earned money by conducting a real effort task. The main dependent variable is how the participants choose to distribute the production value between two workers. Subsidiary we study the beliefs about other participants performance.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The experiment has two parts. In the first part, the production phase, the workers perform a real-effort task to earn points. Each worker's production depends both on the worker's performance in the real-effort task as well as a random factor that cannot be in influenced by the
worker. In the second part, the distribution phase, two workers will be randomly matched and it will be determined how the sum of their production - their total production - is divided between them. In our study we focus both on distribution decisions by one of the workers, being a 'stakeholder', as well as distribution decisions made by an impartial third party, the 'spectator'.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomization is done by a computer
Randomization Unit
Individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
No clusters
Sample size: planned number of observations
450 individuals
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
Between 110 and 115 individuals in each of the four treatments 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
IRB Approval Date
IRB Approval Number
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