The Value of Immigrant Assimilation

Last registered on February 12, 2025
View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
The Value of Immigrant Assimilation
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0014728
Initial registration date
February 11, 2025

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 12, 2025, 12:24 PM EST

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

Locations

There is information in this trial unavailable to the public. Use the button below to request access.

Request Information

Primary Investigator

Name
Elaheh Fatemi Pour
Affiliation
University of Warwick
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Priyama Majumdar
PI Affiliation
University of Warwick
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2025-02-12
End date
2025-09-15
Keywords
Behavior
Additional Keywords
Immigration, Culture, Integration
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
We investigate how UK natives value immigrant cultural assimilation, using an online experiment with a representative sample of UK residents on Prolific. Participants evaluate pairs of hypothetical immigrant profiles that vary along three dimensions: the cultural distance between the immigrant's home country and the UK, the immigrant's income level in the UK, and randomly provided information about their cultural assimilation. By analysing natives' choices between these profiles, we can estimate their income-equivalent willingness to pay for immigrants from culturally similar versus distant countries and assess how cultural integration influences this valuation.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Fatemi Pour, Elaheh and Priyama Majumdar. 2025. "The Value of Immigrant Assimilation." AEA RCT Registry. February 12. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.14728-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Participants compare a series of scenarios involving two hypothetical immigrant profiles that vary by cultural background—either from countries similar to or distant from the UK—and income levels. In each scenario, the immigrant from a culturally similar country has a fixed income, while the income of the immigrant from a culturally distant country varies across scenarios. Participants indicate their preferred immigrant to stay in the UK considering that only one can remain in each case. The intervention involves informing the participants in the treatment group that the immigrant from the culturally distant country has values similar to UK cultural norms, while the control group receives no such information. This design allows us to examine how information about cultural integration influences the income-based trade-offs participants make between culturally similar and distant immigrants.
Intervention Start Date
2025-02-12
Intervention End Date
2025-02-28

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
The primary outcome of interest is the income level at which participants switch their preference between the two immigrants in each pair—one from a culturally similar country with a fixed income and one from a culturally distant country with a varying income.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We ask participants to evaluate pairs of hypothetical immigrant profiles that vary in their cultural backgrounds (from similar or distant countries relative to the UK) and income levels. Cultural background is measured through dimensions of gender, religion, and political values. Participants choose between Immigrant B from a culturally similar country and Immigrant A from a culturally distant country in a series of paired profiles. In each comparison, B's income remains fixed while A's income varies across comparisons. We randomly assign participants to either a control group receiving no information about Immigrant A's current cultural values, or a treatment group, which is informed that Immigrant A's values align with that of a typical UK native. For each participant, we measure the income level of Immigrant A at which participants become indifferent between choosing Immigrant A or B to remain in the UK, who are otherwise the same in all aspects.

All participants are UK residents. Our primary focus is on analysing the behaviour of UK natives (those born in the UK).
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Randomisation is done by the Qualtrics software.
Randomization Unit
At the individual level.
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
No clusters.
Sample size: planned number of observations
1,200 (400 observations for each cultural dimension) individuals from Prolific.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
200 observations in each experimental group (Control, Treatment) for each cultural dimension.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
For each cultural dimension with 200 individuals in each experimental group (with a 10% buffer for immigrants who are dropped from the main analysis), we will have 80% power to detect a 14.4% difference in the switch point, assuming a reference switch income of 52,000 in the control group (assumed based on data from a prior pilot), and standard deviation of 25,000 (assumed based on data from a prior pilot) derived from a two-sided test of means with alpha = 0.05.
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
The Economics Research Ethics Panel at the Department of Economics in University of Warwick
IRB Approval Date
2025-01-14
IRB Approval Number
N/A
Analysis Plan