The Effects of Inequality and Unfairness

Last registered on August 29, 2024
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
The Effects of Inequality and Unfairness
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0014120
Initial registration date
August 05, 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
August 27, 2024, 3:34 PM EDT

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

Last updated
August 29, 2024, 5:08 AM EDT

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

Locations

Country
Argentina
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Austria
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Australia
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Brazil
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Canada
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Switzerland
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China
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Colombia
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Czechia
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Germany
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Spain
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Finland
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France
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United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
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Greece
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Hungary
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Indonesia
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Ireland
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India
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Italy
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Japan
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Korea (Republic of)
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Mexico
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Malaysia
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Netherlands
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Norway
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New Zealand
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Philippines
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Pakistan
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Poland
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Portugal
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Romania
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Sweden
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Slovakia
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Thailand
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Turkey
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Taiwan, Province of China
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United States of America
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Viet Nam
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South Africa
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Primary Investigator

Name
Morten Nyborg Støstad
Affiliation
Norwegian School of Economics (NHH)
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Bertil Tungodden
PI Affiliation
Norwegian School of Economics (NHH)
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Alexander Cappelen
PI Affiliation
Norwegian School of Economics (NHH)
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2024-08-07
End date
2024-08-28
Keywords
Behavior
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
This pre-analysis plan describes a global study investigating the externalities created by unfairness and inequality, and individuals' beliefs about these effects. The study employs a novel experimental design to isolate and identify the impacts of unfairness and inequality on decision-making and beliefs. We will study how these treatments affect 40,000 participants in 40 countries.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Cappelen, Alexander, Morten Nyborg Støstad and Bertil Tungodden. 2024. "The Effects of Inequality and Unfairness." AEA RCT Registry. August 29. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.14120-1.1
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2024-08-07
Intervention End Date
2024-08-28

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Investment and expected investment.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
See attached PDF.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Perceived unfairness and social distance.
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)
See attached PDF.

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We divide respondents into four treatments; equal effort and equal outcome ("Fair Equality"), unequal effort and unequal outcome ("Fair Inequality"), unequal effort and equal outcome ("Unfair Equality"), and equal effort and unequal outcome ("Unfair Equality").
Experimental Design Details
We will recruit 40,000 participants from the general population in 40 countries using Norstat's infrastructure. Participants will complete demographic questions and a 1-minute task before being informed about a matched "passive" participant. The economic environment will vary across four treatments based on bonus payments and task effort. Participants will then make investment decisions with personal benefits but societal costs, serving as the primary measure of their willingness to expose others to negative outcomes. Follow-up questions will gauge perceptions of fairness and social distance, as well as beliefs about others' investment behaviors in similar settings.
Randomization Method
Qualtrics randomization procedure.
Randomization Unit
Country.
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
40 countries
Sample size: planned number of observations
40,000 respondents
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
1,000 respondents
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials

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IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
NHH-IRB
IRB Approval Date
2024-08-04
IRB Approval Number
42/22
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