Other-Regarding Higher Order Risk Preferences

Last registered on June 24, 2024

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Other-Regarding Higher Order Risk Preferences
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0013767
Initial registration date
June 17, 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
June 24, 2024, 2:08 PM EDT

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

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Primary Investigator

Affiliation
Agricultural University of Athens

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Affiliation
Agricultural University of Athens
PI Affiliation
University of Sheffield

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2024-09-15
End date
2024-12-20
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
This study explores higher order risk preferences (prudence, temperance) for lottery choices that affect one-self vs. other people. We elicit risk preferences (risk aversion, prudence, temperance) from a laboratory experiment with undergraduate students using the risk apportionment tasks of Deck et al. (2023) and vary within subjects whether the decision concerns oneself or some other person. We vary on a between-subjects basis social distance by having the decision for other being implemented to a close friend or to someone else within the group of subjects in a session. We take care that a group of subjects within a session is sufficiently mixed from the student population in order to ensure a greater social distance.

Deck, C., Huang, R.J., Tzeng, L.Y and Zhao, L. (2023) A Simple Approach for Measuring Higher-Order Arrow-Pratt Coefficients of Risk Aversion.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Drichoutis, Andreas, Dimitris Georgantzis Garcia and Achilleas Vassilopoulos. 2024. "Other-Regarding Higher Order Risk Preferences." AEA RCT Registry. June 24. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.13767-1.0
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Subjects will make choices between pairs of lotteries: 9 choices for risk aversion, 9 choices for prudence and 9 choices for temperance. Lottery pairs are scaled down versions of Deck et al. (2023). Subjects first make 3x9 choices for themselves and then make 3x9 choices for others with the understanding that one out of 54 choices will paid out at the end of the experiment. The order of the tasks (self->other vs. other->self will be randomly assigned).

We vary between subjects social distance for lottery choice decision for others. In one treatment the decision is consequential for another person in the room, unknown to the decision maker, while in another treatment the decision is consequential for a close friend.
Intervention Start Date
2024-09-15
Intervention End Date
2024-12-20

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Switch choice on each task: risk aversion, prudence, temperance
Intensity measures of risk aversion, prudence, temperance
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
Intensity measures will be constructed similar to Deck et al. (2023)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Subjects will make choices between pairs of lotteries: 9 choices for risk aversion, 9 choices for prudence and 9 choices for temperance. Lottery pairs are scaled down versions of Deck et al. (2023). Subjects first make 3x9 choices for themselves and then make 3x9 choices for others with the understanding that one out of 54 choices will paid out at the end of the experiment. The order of the tasks (self->other vs. other->self will be randomly assigned).

We vary between subjects social distance for lottery choice decision for others. In one treatment the decision is consequential for another person in the room, unknown to the decision maker, while in another treatment the decision is consequential for a close friend.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
All randomizations are done by the computer.
Randomization Unit
individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
0
Sample size: planned number of observations
54 observations per subject (3 tasks x 9 choices x 2 decision modes) At least 200 subjects (200 x 54 = 10,800 observations)
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
At least 100 subjects per treatment arm.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
The minimum detectable difference, d, that can be detected for a given sample size is given by Diggle et al. (2002), pp. 30; Liu and Wu (2005); Kupper and Hafner (1989): d = sigma * (z_{1-alpha/2}+z_{1-beta}) * sqrt( 2 * (1+(M - 1) * rho) / (M * n)) where d = (mu0-mu1), mu0 and mu1 are the means for each treatment group, sigma is their common standard deviation, alpha=0.05 (Type I error), beta=0.20 (Type II error), therefore z_{1-alpha/2} = 1.96, z_{1-beta} = 0.84, M the number of repeated measurements (M = 2 in our case, since subjects undertake each task twice, once for self and once for others), rho is the interclass correlation coefficient between measurements, and n is the per group sample size. Assuming values for rho = {0, 0.3, 0.6, 0.9}, a target sample size of N = 100 per group can detect differences between the treatment groups in terms of switching point as follows: For risk aversion: 0.34-0.57 For prudence: 0.43-0.73 For temperance: 0.48-0.8 Diggle, P. J., P. Heagerty, K.-Y. Liang, and S. L. Zeger (2002). Analysis of Longitudinal Data (2nd ed.). New York, USA: Oxford University Press Inc Liu, H. and T. Wu (2005). Sample size calculation and power analysis of time-averaged difference. Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods 4 (2), 434–445. Kupper, L. L. and K. B. Hafner (1989). How appropriate are popular sample size formulas? The American Statistician 43 (2), 101–105.
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Agricultural University of Athens
IRB Approval Date
2024-06-17
IRB Approval Number
41/17.06.2024