The willingness to intervene regarding vuluntary contribution to environmental projects

Last registered on November 08, 2023
View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
The willingness to intervene regarding vuluntary contribution to environmental projects
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0012330
Initial registration date
October 31, 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
November 08, 2023, 11:23 AM EST

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

Locations

There is information in this trial unavailable to the public. Use the button below to request access.

Request Information

Primary Investigator

Name
Yuanwei Xu
Affiliation
Ruhr University Bochum
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Christoph Feldhaus
PI Affiliation
PI Name
Andreas Loeschel
PI Affiliation

Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2023-10-20
End date
2024-04-30
Keywords
Behavior, Environment & Energy, Governance
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
We aim to understand what motivates the willingness to intervene in the case of voluntary contribution to environmental protection projects in China. There are two options offered: (i) a payment of 18 CNY (equivalently 2.5 USD), or (ii) a payment of 12 CNY (1.6 USD) and a donation of 10 CNY (1.4 USD) to projects working on carbon reductions. Our randomization follows a 2x2x2 design on 3 domains: (i) reasons for low efforts for environmental protection, internal (low preference for environmental protection) or external (low knowledge of carbon projects), (ii) a soft (giving suggestions only) or hard (forbidding one choice) intervention, and (iii) a real impact on another Chinese or German citizen.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Feldhaus, Christoph, Andreas Loeschel and Yuanwei Xu. 2023. "The willingness to intervene regarding vuluntary contribution to environmental projects." AEA RCT Registry. November 08. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.12330-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2023-10-20
Intervention End Date
2024-01-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
The decision to intervene or not (whether survey participants answer "Yes" to the question of whether they want to manipulate the choice for another future survey participant)
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Hypothetical online survey experiment with a representative sample from the Chinese population (18 years and above). Individuals would be randomly assigned to one of the eight following groups:
Group 1 – internal problem, hard intervention on another Chinese
Group 2 – internal problem, hard intervention on another German
Group 3 – internal problem, soft intervention on another Chinese
Group 4 – internal problem, soft intervention on another German
Group 5 – external problem, hard intervention on another Chinese
Group 6 – external problem, hard intervention on another German
Group 7 – external problem, soft intervention on another Chinese
Group 8 – external problem, soft intervention on another German
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Randomization at individual level by the survey system.
Randomization Unit
Individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
3,000 individuals
Sample size: planned number of observations
3,000 individuals
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
375 individuals per treatment group
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
German Association for Experimental Economic Research e.V.
IRB Approval Date
2023-10-31
IRB Approval Number
No. 2JYvaPgS
Analysis Plan