Perceptions about worthiness and support for welfare

Last registered on October 17, 2023
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Perceptions about worthiness and support for welfare
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0012271
Initial registration date
October 10, 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
October 17, 2023, 11:50 AM EDT

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

Locations

Country
United States of America
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Jesper Akesson
Affiliation
The Behaviouralist
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2023-10-11
End date
2023-10-13
Keywords
Behavior
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
This study examines if providing a sample of White US participants with information about the worthiness of welfare recipients influences their support for welfare, as well as their beliefs about the worthiness of welfare recipients.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Akesson, Jesper. 2023. "Perceptions about worthiness and support for welfare." AEA RCT Registry. October 17. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.12271-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Participants will be allocated to a control group or to groups that receive one of the following statements:

Statement 1: Most Americans who receive benefits are not on welfare through any fault of their own. According to academic research, being on welfare is often the result of growing up in poverty, which reduces access to well-paying jobs, safe housing, high quality education and good healthcare ('How to break the cycle of poverty'). In other words, people who are born poor are likely to remain poor because the odds are stacked against them. These structural factors are what cause people to end up receiving welfare in the majority of cases.


Statement 2: Most Americans who receive benefits are not on welfare through any fault of their own. According to academic research, being on welfare is often the result of growing up in poverty, which reduces access to well-paying jobs, safe housing, high quality education and good healthcare ('How to break the cycle of poverty'). In other words, people who are born poor are likely to remain poor because the odds are stacked against them. These structural factors are what cause people to end up receiving welfare in the majority of cases.

In addition, such systematic factors disproportionately affect Black Americans. Black Americans are, for example, more likely to face labor market discrimination, more likely to lack of access to financial opportunities (including mortgages), and are less likely to have access to high quality education (Hanks, Solomon, Weller, 2018)

Intervention Start Date
2023-10-11
Intervention End Date
2023-10-13

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Whether participants donate potential lottery winnings to a foundation that supports welfare or a foundation that does not support welfare
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Beliefs about the perceived worthiness of welfare recipients
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Participants will with equal probability be allocated to a control group that receives no intervention or to one of the two treatment groups that receive a statement about the worthiness of welfare recipients.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomisation in Qualtrics
Randomization Unit
Individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
No clusters
Sample size: planned number of observations
3000
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
1000 per arm
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
We have 80% power to detect at 4pp change in donation rates if we assume the baseline is 10% in the control group.
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