Eliciting the ambiguity Attitude of Dragon-slayers and Dyke-builders - An Experimental Study

Last registered on September 15, 2023

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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

Eliciting the ambiguity Attitude of Dragon-slayers and Dyke-builders - An Experimental Study

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0011781

Initial registration date

September 12, 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

September 15, 2023, 8:59 AM EDT

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

Locations

Country

Germany

Region

Primary Investigator

Name

Fabian Bopp

Affiliation

Paderborn University

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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name

Eva Klein

PI Affiliation

Paderborn University

Contact Investigator

PI Name

Sara le Roux

PI Affiliation

Oxford Brookes Business School

Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status

In development

Start date

2023-08-01

End date

2023-12-31

Keywords

Behavior

Additional Keywords

Public goods, Ambiguity, Choquet expected utility, Strategic complements, Strategic substitutes, Weakest-link, Best-shot, Belief elicitation, Ellsberg urn

JEL code(s)

C91, D81, D82, D83

Secondary IDs

Prior work

This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.

Abstract

This paper revisits the effect of ambiguity in strategic games first investigated by Kelsey and le Roux (2017). Once again we consider the impact of ambiguity in two strategic settings: the best-shot and weakest-link versions of public goods provision. We use the recent belief elicitation methodology proposed by Baillon et al. (2021) to elicit model-free ambiguity parameters of subjects' beliefs and ambiguity attitudes and investigate whether the type of strategic setting has an impact on decision-makers' ambiguity aversion (both absolute and relative) and their degree of a(mbiguity)-insensitivity.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Bopp, Fabian, Eva Klein and Sara le Roux. 2023. "Eliciting the ambiguity Attitude of Dragon-slayers and Dyke-builders - An Experimental Study." AEA RCT Registry. September 15. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.11781-1.0

Sponsors & Partners

Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

No intervention

Intervention Start Date

2023-08-01

Intervention End Date

2023-12-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

ambiguity attitudes in best-shot-PGG, weakest-link-PGG, and Ellsberg (aversion index and a-insensitivity index)

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

The outcome will be constructed using the matching probabilities following the procedure of Baillon et al. (2021)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

contribution in best-shot-PGG and weakest-link-PGG

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

We directly elicit the contribution on a scale from 100-150 in steps of 10.

Experimental Design

The design consists of best-shot-PGG, weakest-link-PGG, and Ellsberg game. Additionally following Baillon et al. (2021) we elicit the matching probabilities. To control for prosocial preferences and for reasoning abilities we use a donation decision and CRT questions

Experimental Design Details

Randomization Method

We randomize the order of PGG variants. This is implemented by a computer.

Randomization Unit

randomization is done on an individual level.

Was the treatment clustered?

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

We plan to observe 400 subjects. (The actual number may depend on the available budget)

Sample size: planned number of observations

We plan to observe 400 subjects. (The actual number may depend on the available budget)

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

400 subjects (The actual number may depend on the available budget)

Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)

given a power of 0.9 and 400 subjects, we are able to observe an effect size of 0.15. This i.e. would translate into a change in the calculated parameter for a-insensitivity index from 0.30 to 0.35 points with a standard deviation of 0.45. The assumed values are selected based on Dorobiala and Melkonyan (2023).

Supporting Documents and Materials

IRB