Policy views on the trade-off between lives and livelihoods in a pandemic: Evidence from Japan

Last registered on February 14, 2024
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Policy views on the trade-off between lives and livelihoods in a pandemic: Evidence from Japan
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0012965
Initial registration date
February 08, 2024

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
February 14, 2024, 12:01 PM EST

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

Locations

Country
Japan
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Taisuke Nakata
Affiliation
University of Tokyo
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Takeshi Ojima
PI Affiliation
Soka University
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PI Name
Thuy Linh Nguyen
PI Affiliation
University of Tokyo
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PI Name
Manami Tsuruta
PI Affiliation
Osaka Universiry
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PI Name
Reona Hayashi
PI Affiliation
Hosei University
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PI Name
So Morikawa
PI Affiliation
University of Tokyo
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Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2024-02-20
End date
2024-03-18
Keywords
Behavior, Health
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
We investigate how information provision affects people’s views on the appropriate trade-offs between lives and livelihoods in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants are recruited online and randomly assigned to multiple groups. We provide participants with different types of information and then ask questions about the appropriate trade-offs between lives and livelihoods. To shed light on the mechanism, we will also examine how information provision affect people’s perception of the tradeoff as well as their perceptions of the opinions of others.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Hayashi, Reona et al. 2024. "Policy views on the trade-off between lives and livelihoods in a pandemic: Evidence from Japan." AEA RCT Registry. February 14. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.12965-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2024-02-20
Intervention End Date
2024-03-18

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
(i) how they characterize the priority of the Japanese government pandemic policy between infection control and socio-economic activities, (ii) whether the Japanese government should have put more priority on infection control versus socio-economic activities, (iii) whether the lockdown duration in Tokyo was too long or too short, and (iv) the appropriate lockdown duration in Tokyo
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
(i) How many more lives would have been saved from COVID-19 and (ii) how many more people would have been unemployed if the lockdown duration had been 6 months longer than in reality, (iii) whether an average Japanese citizen thinks the Japanese government should have put more priority on infection control versus socio-economic activities and (iv) what an average Japanese citizen thinks about the appropriate lockdown duration.
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We conduct our experiments online, with the main experiment taking place from February 9 to February 16, 2024, and the follow-up experiment from March 1 to March 10, 2024. Target participants are men and women aged from their 20s to 70s. To ensure the representativeness of the survey, the sample is designed to align with the most recent available data on age and gender distribution of the Japanese population.
For the main experiment, our target sample size is 15,600 participants. With a total of 14 groups (2 control groups and 12 treatment groups, as described above), there are approximately 1,100 participants in each group.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomization done by a computer.
Randomization Unit
Individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
15600
Sample size: planned number of observations
15600
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
About 1114
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Ethic Review Board at the University of Tokyo
IRB Approval Date
2024-01-31
IRB Approval Number
23-544
Analysis Plan

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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