Default effects in fairness preference elicitation

Last registered on October 02, 2025
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Default effects in fairness preference elicitation
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0012990
Initial registration date
February 12, 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 16, 2024, 3:31 PM EST

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

Last updated
October 02, 2025, 7:32 AM EDT

Last updated is the most recent time when changes to the trial's registration were published.

Locations

Country
Sweden
Region
Country
United States of America
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Justin Valasek
Affiliation
Norwegian School of Economics (NHH)
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2024-01-01
End date
2024-02-29
Keywords
Behavior
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to establish whether there are default effect when conditional fairness preferences are elicited using the industry standard spectator method, and to explore the methodological implications of default effect to inform best practices in eliciting conditional fairness preferences.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Valasek, Justin. 2025. "Default effects in fairness preference elicitation." AEA RCT Registry. October 02. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.12990-3.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention (Hidden)
Intervention Start Date
2024-01-01
Intervention End Date
2024-02-29

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Inequality acceptance
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We collect experimental data on nationally representative samples in the US and Sweden to measure default effects in the elicitation of conditional fairness preferences.
Experimental Design Details
The experiment with gather data on subjects decisions regarding the distribution of bonus payments of "workers" for their completion of an online real effort task. The subjects will choose among the following distributions of bonus payments:
{(6,0), (5,1), (4,2), (3,3)}.

We will vary whether the subjects have a default option of (6,0) (Unequal default treatment), a default of (3,3) (Equal default treatment) or no default.

Subjects are randomly sorted into treatments, with 250 in each treatment. The subject population will be representative samples from the US and Sweden.
Randomization Method
In office by a computer
Randomization Unit
individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
750
Sample size: planned number of observations
750
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
250
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
NHH IRB
IRB Approval Date
2023-12-15
IRB Approval Number
NHH-IRB 44/22
Analysis Plan

Analysis Plan Documents

Default Effects

MD5: 7706ef5a333da40b53b6008058c71300

SHA1: 0d239a3426c949af09c9178373c95328ff6374f1

Uploaded At: February 12, 2024

Follow up study_Merit

MD5: 3d18ecb0f4b45a5ec9f2d6ad3921a46f

SHA1: c58dd2bd3049ba49c33150e1c1e2ffd41ac99188

Uploaded At: May 09, 2025

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