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Willingness to Pay for Partisan Jobs

Last registered on August 13, 2024

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Willingness to Pay for Partisan Jobs
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0014137
Initial registration date
August 06, 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 13, 2024, 3:04 PM EDT

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

Locations

Region

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
Harvard University

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Affiliation
Harvard University

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2024-08-09
End date
2024-12-31
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
We conduct two online survey experiments to estimate partisan workers’ willingness to pay for jobs that signal partisan values or that have explicitly partisan attributes. The first survey is a framing experiment in which we synthesize job ads that do or do not emphasize liberal values such as the diversity of employees or the attention paid to environmental concerns. The second survey is a conjoint experiment following Maestas et al. (2018) where we ask respondents to choose between hypothetical job profiles that display attributes including the shares of Democrats and Republicans at the workplace. Both surveys are stated-preference experiments where we ask respondents to choose repeatedly between hypothetical jobs. We randomize the salaries of each job, allowing us to estimate willingness to pay for liberal framing or for particular job attributes. Our main outcome of interest is the difference between Democrats, Republicans, and independents in their WTP.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Chinoy, Sahil and Martin Koenen. 2024. "Willingness to Pay for Partisan Jobs." AEA RCT Registry. August 13. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.14137-1.0
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2024-08-09
Intervention End Date
2024-08-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Respondent’s choice between two hypothetical job ads or profiles.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We conduct two online survey experiments to estimate how much partisans are willing to pay for “partisan” aspects of a job. In both, we show respondents pairs of hypothetical jobs, randomizing their salary, and ask them to choose which they prefer. In the first experiment, we vary whether the job ad is framed in a way that highlights liberal values or not. In the second, we vary attributes of the job such as the partisanship of the employees.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Randomization by a computer.
Randomization Unit
In the framing experiment, we randomize whether each job ad is framed using liberal values or neutral values, as well as the salary.
In the conjoint experiment, we randomize some attributes of each job profile within a choice pair, as well as the salary.
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
For each of the two surveys, 2,000 respondents.
Sample size: planned number of observations
In the framing experiment, each respondent sees 5 pairs of job ads, for a total of 10,000 choices. In the conjoint experiment, each respondent sees 9 pairs of job ads, for a total of 18,000 choices.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
There are no treatment arms -- instead, we randomly vary the salary and, in the framing experiment, whether the job is framed using neutral values, and in the conjoint experiment, various job attributes.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Harvard University-Area Committee on the Use of Human Subjects
IRB Approval Date
2024-07-03
IRB Approval Number
IRB24-0817