Are Consumers Poorly-Informed about Fuel Economy?

Last registered on September 04, 2016
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Are Consumers Poorly-Informed about Fuel Economy?
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0001421
Initial registration date
September 04, 2016

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
September 04, 2016, 8:24 AM EDT

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

Locations

Country
United States of America
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Hunt Allcott
Affiliation
Microsoft Research
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Christopher Knittel
PI Affiliation
MIT Sloan
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Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2012-12-01
End date
2016-07-31
Keywords
Environment & Energy
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Abstract
We implement two randomized control trials providing fuel economy information to consumers shopping for automobiles.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Allcott, Hunt and Christopher Knittel. 2016. "Are Consumers Poorly-Informed about Fuel Economy?." AEA RCT Registry. September 04. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.1421-1.0
Former Citation
Allcott, Hunt and Christopher Knittel. 2016. "Are Consumers Poorly-Informed about Fuel Economy?." AEA RCT Registry. September 04. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/1421/history/10543
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
We implement two randomized control trials providing fuel economy information to consumers shopping for automobiles.
Intervention Start Date
2012-12-01
Intervention End Date
2015-05-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Fuel consumption rating of vehicle purchased.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
There are two experiments, one in auto dealerships and one in an online marketing panel.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomization for the dealership experiment is done by the iPad's random number generator. Randomization for the online experiment was done by the implementer using a computer.
Randomization Unit
Individual consumer.
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
Dealership experiment: N is approximately 2000
Online experiment: N is approximately 5000
Sample size: planned number of observations
Dealership experiment: N is approximately 2000 Online experiment: N is approximately 5000
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
Observations are split approximately equally between treatment groups.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
MIT Committee on the Use of Human Subjects
IRB Approval Date
1900-01-01
IRB Approval Number
1401006118
Analysis Plan

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