Capital vs. Labor: the Effect of Income Sources on Attitudes Towards the Top 1 Percent.

Last registered on August 10, 2023
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Capital vs. Labor: the Effect of Income Sources on Attitudes Towards the Top 1 Percent.
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0011876
Initial registration date
August 01, 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
August 10, 2023, 12:53 PM EDT

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

Locations

Country
France
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Emmanuel Chavez
Affiliation
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE)
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Oscar Barrera-Rodriguez
PI Affiliation
CY Cergy Paris Université
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Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2022-01-25
End date
2022-02-21
Keywords
Other
Additional Keywords
Top 1 percent, income tax, capital income shares.
JEL code(s)
H20, H24, P16.
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
We examine the impact of providing information on the income of the top 1% earners on attitudes towards this group. We focus on the income at the top derived from capital and labor, an aspect scarcely studied in previous literature. We conduct an online survey with 2,000 French adult respondents. We randomly expose two-thirds of the sample to our quantitative information on the income of top 1% earners in France. In addition, half of the respondents that received the quantitative information were randomly selected to receive complementary qualitative interpretations of the quantitative information.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Barrera-Rodriguez, Oscar and Emmanuel Chavez. 2023. "Capital vs. Labor: the Effect of Income Sources on Attitudes Towards the Top 1 Percent.." AEA RCT Registry. August 10. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.11876-1.0
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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2022-01-25
Intervention End Date
2022-02-21

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
1. Do you think the richest 1% individuals in France concentrate too much income in their hands?. Respondents choose on a 0 to 10 scale, 0 - "strongly disagree" and 10 - "strongly agree'".
2. Which statement about the richest 1% in France do you agree with the most?. Respondents choose on a 0 to 10 scale, 0 - "they deserve their income" and 10 - "they do not deserve their income".
3. Which statement about the richest 1% do you agree with the most?, being 0 - "they are beneficial for society" and 10 - "they are harmful to society".
4. In France, someone earning the minimum wage pays around 10 percent of her revenue in income tax (including social contributions). What percent of their revenue should the richest 1% French pay in income taxes?
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We conduct an online survey with 2,000 French adult respondents. We randomly expose two-thirds of the sample to our "quantitative treatment arm". This arm consists, first, of showing the amount of income that the top 1 percent in France earns, and second, of informing how much of the income of top earners comes from capital versus labor sources. In addition, half of the respondents that received the quantitative treatment were randomly selected to receive complementary qualitative interpretations on the consequences of inequality and large capital income shares at the top; we call this our "quantitative+qualitative treatment arm". We assigned the remaining one-third of the respondents to the control group. This design allows, firstly, to test the effect of exposing people to information on the income sources at the top of the distribution, which is this study's main purpose; secondly, to isolate the marginal impact of providing additional qualitative interpretations on this matter. We study three dimensions of respondents' perceptions towards top earners: 1) concentration of income, 2) merit, and 3) role in society.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomization done in office 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
2000 individuals.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
666 individuals in the control group, 666 individuals are shown the quantitative information, 666 individuals are shown the quantitative+qualitative information.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Paris School of Economics Institutional Review Board
IRB Approval Date
2021-09-16
IRB Approval Number
2021 016
Analysis Plan

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
Yes
Intervention Completion Date
February 21, 2022, 12:00 +00:00
Data Collection Complete
Yes
Data Collection Completion Date
February 21, 2022, 12:00 +00:00
Final Sample Size: Number of Clusters (Unit of Randomization)
Was attrition correlated with treatment status?
Final Sample Size: Total Number of Observations
2003 individuals.
Final Sample Size (or Number of Clusters) by Treatment Arms
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials