Back to History

Fields Changed

Registration

Field Before After
Trial End Date November 04, 2023 June 01, 2024
Last Published October 28, 2023 11:20 AM May 15, 2024 09:45 AM
Intervention (Public) Study 1 (originally pre-registration): This experimental investigation aims to compare the labor supply responses to taxation to the labor supply responses to other forms of redistribution. In the context of a real-effort task, participants' payments will be subjected to a 25% withholding, the beneficiary of which varies across five treatment groups. There will be 2 control groups, one where the piece-rate is the same as the pre-withholding piece-rate in the treatments and one where the piece-rate is the same as the post-withholding piece-rate in the treatments. Study 2 (update to pre-registration on 28 October 2023): In study 1, we found negative labor supply responses among all treatment groups, compared to the control group with the same net wage. In study 2, we will further explore the labor supply responses to working for others by exploring the impact of perceived autonomy on labor supply. Study 2 is very similar to study 1, however, we remove the control (high) group, the ACLU group, and the Heritage Foundation group from study 1. We then add 2 new treatments. We call these treatments "restricted choice" and "unrestricted choice." In "restricted choice," participants are informed about the task and are asked which political party they would like to earn points for (in addition to earning points for themselves.) In "unrestricted choice," participants are given these same choices, but are also given the option to only earn points for themselves, without earning points for a political party. The only other change in the procedures is the addition of a comment section at the end of the survey and the removal of information that relates to the treatments we removed. Study 1 (originally pre-registration): This experimental investigation aims to compare the labor supply responses to taxation to the labor supply responses to other forms of redistribution. In the context of a real-effort task, participants' payments will be subjected to a 25% withholding, the beneficiary of which varies across five treatment groups. There will be 2 control groups, one where the piece-rate is the same as the pre-withholding piece-rate in the treatments and one where the piece-rate is the same as the post-withholding piece-rate in the treatments. Study 2 (update to pre-registration on 28 October 2023): In study 1, we found negative labor supply responses among all treatment groups, compared to the control group with the same net wage. In study 2, we will further explore the labor supply responses to working for others by exploring the impact of perceived autonomy on labor supply. Study 2 is very similar to study 1, however, we remove the control (high) group, the ACLU group, and the Heritage Foundation group from study 1. We then add 2 new treatments. We call these treatments "restricted choice" and "unrestricted choice." In "restricted choice," participants are informed about the task and are asked which political party they would like to earn points for (in addition to earning points for themselves.) In "unrestricted choice," participants are given these same choices, but are also given the option to only earn points for themselves, without earning points for a political party. The only other change in the procedures is the addition of a comment section at the end of the survey and the removal of information that relates to the treatments we removed. Study 3 (update to pre-registration on 15 May 2024): In study 2, we found that adding "autonomy" (in the form of a choice about which organization to work for) only mitigated the negative labor supply response to working for others when participants were offered the choice to work only for themselves (net wage to participants remained constant, regardless of their choice). We again found negative labor supply responses to working for both the Republican and Democrat parties (when no choice is involved), and this negative effect persists after controlling for political affiliation. In Study 3, we want to further explore the relationship between opinions about the organizations, choice about which organization to work for, and labor supply. Specifically, we will run a preliminary study where participants will give us their opinions of a list of about 12 charities. Then, we will select the top 5 most trusted charities from this study, and will use these as the potential organizations in the main study. In the main study (for study 3), we will have 4 treatments: control (low), rank_nochoice (where participants will be given information about the 5 potential charities and asked to rank them in terms of how much they trust the charities, then we will assign participants to work for their most trusted charity), rank_thenchoice (where participants will be given information about the 5 potential charities and asked to rank them in terms of how much they trust the charities; following this, participants will choose which specific charity they would like to earn money for, but will be required to work for a charity), and rank_thenchoice_unrestricted (same as rank_thenchoice, but participants will be given the choice to work only for themselves rather than also working for a charity).
Intervention End Date November 04, 2023 June 01, 2024
Experimental Design (Public) Study 1: Participants will join the experiment, give consent, and answer 2 questions about their political opinions. Then, all participants will be randomized into one of 7 groups, given information about which organization any withheld earnings will go to, and told about the real-effort task. Participants will choose how long they want to work (0-180 seconds, in intervals of 30 seconds) and will complete as many real-effort tasks as they want to/can within this time limit. Following the completion of the tasks, all participants will be given information about all of the organizations and asked to give their opinion of the extent to which these organizations can be trusted to generally do what is right with the money they receive. Finally, participants will complete a short demographic survey. Study 2: Participants will join the experiment, give consent, and answer 2 questions about their political opinions. Then, all participants will be randomized into one of 5 groups, given information about which organization any withheld earnings will go to, and told about the real-effort task. Participants will choose how long they want to work (0-180 seconds, in intervals of 30 seconds) and will complete as many real-effort tasks as they want to/can within this time limit. Following the completion of the tasks, all participants will be given information about all of the organizations and asked to give their opinion of the extent to which these organizations can be trusted to generally do what is right with the money they receive. Finally, participants will complete a short demographic survey and will be asked if they have any comments about the experiment. Study 1: Treatment groups will have 25% of earnings directed to one of the following: The U.S. Federal Government The Republican Party The Democratic Party The American Civil Liberties Union The Heritage Foundation Control groups: LOW: No tax/donation, piece-rate same as post-tax/donation piece-rate in treatment groups HIGH: No tax/donation, piece-rate same as pre-tax/donation piece-rate in treatment groups Study 2: Treatment groups will have 25% of earnings directed to one of the following: The Republican Party The Democratic Party Choice between Republican or Democratic party Choice between working only for self or working for either the Republican or Democratic party Control group: LOW: No tax/donation, piece-rate same as post-tax/donation piece-rate in treatment groups Study 1: Participants will join the experiment, give consent, and answer 2 questions about their political opinions. Then, all participants will be randomized into one of 7 groups, given information about which organization any withheld earnings will go to, and told about the real-effort task. Participants will choose how long they want to work (0-180 seconds, in intervals of 30 seconds) and will complete as many real-effort tasks as they want to/can within this time limit. Following the completion of the tasks, all participants will be given information about all of the organizations and asked to give their opinion of the extent to which these organizations can be trusted to generally do what is right with the money they receive. Finally, participants will complete a short demographic survey. Study 2: Participants will join the experiment, give consent, and answer 2 questions about their political opinions. Then, all participants will be randomized into one of 5 groups, given information about which organization any withheld earnings will go to, and told about the real-effort task. Participants will choose how long they want to work (0-180 seconds, in intervals of 30 seconds) and will complete as many real-effort tasks as they want to/can within this time limit. Following the completion of the tasks, all participants will be given information about all of the organizations and asked to give their opinion of the extent to which these organizations can be trusted to generally do what is right with the money they receive. Finally, participants will complete a short demographic survey and will be asked if they have any comments about the experiment. Study 3: Participants will join the experiment, give consent, and answer 2 questions about their political opinions. Then, all participants will be randomized into one of 4 groups, given information about the list of potential charities, asked to rank the charities (from least trusted to most trusted), and told about the real-effort task (in treatments involving choice, participants will make the choice about which charity to work for on the same page as the instruction page for the real effort task). Participants will choose how long they want to work (0-180 seconds, in intervals of 30 seconds) and will complete as many real-effort tasks as they want to/can within this time limit. Finally, participants will complete a short demographic survey and will be asked if they have any comments about the experiment. Study 1: Treatment groups will have 25% of earnings directed to one of the following: The U.S. Federal Government The Republican Party The Democratic Party The American Civil Liberties Union The Heritage Foundation Control groups: LOW: No tax/donation, piece-rate same as post-tax/donation piece-rate in treatment groups HIGH: No tax/donation, piece-rate same as pre-tax/donation piece-rate in treatment groups Study 2: Treatment groups will have 25% of earnings directed to one of the following: The Republican Party The Democratic Party Choice between Republican or Democratic party Choice between working only for self or working for either the Republican or Democratic party Control group: LOW: No tax/donation, piece-rate same as post-tax/donation piece-rate in treatment groups Study 3: Treatment groups will have 25% of earnings directed to one of the following: The participant's most trusted charity (based on rankings at the individual level) Choice of one of the list of potential charities Choice between working only for self or working for one of the list of potential charities Control group: LOW: No tax/donation, piece-rate same as post-tax/donation piece-rate in treatment groups
Planned Number of Clusters Study 1: Pending power analysis, as described below. There will be no clustering, so the number of observations will be the number of clusters. Study 2: There will be no clustering, so the number of observations will be the number of clusters. Study 1: Pending power analysis, as described below. There will be no clustering, so the number of observations will be the number of clusters. Study 2: There will be no clustering, so the number of observations will be the number of clusters. Study 3: There will be no clustering, so the number of observations will be the number of clusters.
Planned Number of Observations Study 1: Pending power analysis, as described below. Likely around 700 observations (100 per treatment/control group). Study 2: 500 observations (100 per treatment/control group) Study 1: Pending power analysis, as described below. Likely around 700 observations (100 per treatment/control group). Study 2: 500 observations (100 per treatment/control group) Study 3: 400 observations (100 per treatment/control group) Study 3 Preliminary: 100 observations
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms Study 1: Pending power analysis, as described below. Our initial estimate is that there will be around 100 participants in each treatment/control group. There are 5 treatment groups and 2 control groups, so the total number of participants will be around 700, pending power calculations, as explained in detail below. Study 2: 100 observations per treatment/control group (500 total observations) Study 1: Pending power analysis, as described below. Our initial estimate is that there will be around 100 participants in each treatment/control group. There are 5 treatment groups and 2 control groups, so the total number of participants will be around 700, pending power calculations, as explained in detail below. Study 2: 100 observations per treatment/control group (500 total observations) Study 3: 400 observations (100 per treatment/control group) Study 3 Preliminary: 100 observations
Intervention (Hidden) Interventions (study 1): Treatment groups will have 25% of earnings directed to one of the following: The U.S. Federal Government The Republican Party The Democratic Party The American Civil Liberties Union The Heritage Foundation Control groups: LOW: No tax/donation, piece-rate same as post-tax/donation piece-rate in treatment groups HIGH: No tax/donation, piece-rate same as pre-tax/donation piece-rate in treatment groups Interventions (study 2): Treatment groups will have 25% of earnings directed to one of the following: The Republican Party The Democratic Party Choice between Republican or Democratic party Choice between working only for self or working for either the Republican or Democratic party Control group: LOW: No tax/donation, piece-rate same as post-tax/donation piece-rate in treatment groups Interventions (study 1): Treatment groups will have 25% of earnings directed to one of the following: The U.S. Federal Government The Republican Party The Democratic Party The American Civil Liberties Union The Heritage Foundation Control groups: LOW: No tax/donation, piece-rate same as post-tax/donation piece-rate in treatment groups HIGH: No tax/donation, piece-rate same as pre-tax/donation piece-rate in treatment groups Interventions (study 2): Treatment groups will have 25% of earnings directed to one of the following: The Republican Party The Democratic Party Choice between Republican or Democratic party Choice between working only for self or working for either the Republican or Democratic party Control group: LOW: No tax/donation, piece-rate same as post-tax/donation piece-rate in treatment groups Interventions (study 3): Treatment groups will have 25% of earnings directed to one of the following: The participant's most trusted charity (based on rankings at the individual level) Choice of one of the list of potential charities Choice between working only for self or working for one of the list of potential charities Control group: LOW: No tax/donation, piece-rate same as post-tax/donation piece-rate in treatment groups
Back to top

Irbs

Field Before After
IRB Name George Mason University, Fairfax, VA
IRB Approval Date April 30, 2024
IRB Approval Number 2047311-3
Back to top