Effects of Green Policy Propaganda

Last registered on November 15, 2024
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Effects of Green Policy Propaganda
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0014752
Initial registration date
November 02, 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
November 15, 2024, 1:17 PM EST

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

Locations

Country
China
Region
Anhui Province, Jiangsu Province, Zhejiang Province, and Shanghai

Primary Investigator

Name
Yuehao Yang
Affiliation
The University of Chicago
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2024-08-26
End date
2025-09-19
Keywords
Behavior, Environment & Energy, Governance
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
Government propaganda plays a crucial role in communicating political agenda and policy goals in China. Understanding how it works can shed light on how propaganda shapes public support. We experimentally study the effect of green policy propaganda in regional China, randomizing the order of exposure to environmental protection messages in over 200 villages. Specifically, we are interested in 1. How does green policy propaganda affect public support and perception for government spending on environmental issues? 2. Does propaganda affect individual higher order beliefs about the policy? 3. How does potential public exposure of survey results affect individual responses? Answers to these questions help us understand how propaganda can help motivate support for green policies as well as how effective are government propaganda in mobilizing support.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Yang, Yuehao. 2024. " Effects of Green Policy Propaganda." AEA RCT Registry. November 15. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.14752-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
We randomize the order in which localities receive government messages on green policies.
Intervention (Hidden)
We randomize the order in which villages are painted with murals containing green policy slogans and images that promote environment
conscious behaviors. We also randomly assign respondents to receive "public information" treatment, where they are shown a government endorsement letter for conducting the survey, while the control group is shown an IRB statement reassuring their confidentiality.
Intervention Start Date
2024-09-16
Intervention End Date
2025-08-15

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Support for green policies, perception about government spending on green policies, as well as individual's higher order beliefs for green policies.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The localities will be randomly divided into 4 groups to receive treatment sequentially. One group is treated before commencing with the next. We survey across all localities after each group is treated to collect outcomes. By the end of the treatment intervention, all localities will be treated.
Experimental Design Details
In 2021, local governments across China began painting political murals with environmental protection messages. This initiative is part of the effort to raise green policy awareness and enhance environmental governance in rural areas. The murals contain green policy slogans and images that promote environment conscious behaviors. We partner with a local graphic design company, who is awarded the contract to draw the murals, to randomize the order in which the murals are painted. Due to resource constraints, the company will divide the villages into 4 groups and paint murals sequentially. The painting of one group is completed before commencing with the next, until all villages have been painted. We exploit this staggered rollout plan and work with the company to randomize the assignment of villages to each group, creating random variation in treatment status. Villagers in the already-treated group will experience exposure to green policy propaganda while villagers in the not-yet treated group have not yet learned the message, allowing us to estimate the effect of propaganda on various downstream outcomes we are interested in. We conduct door-to-door surveys to a randomly selected pool of households in the villages
to collect demographic information and measures of various outcomes. We also randomly assign respondents to receive "public information" treatment, where they are shown a government endorsement letter for conducting the survey, while the control group is shown an IRB statement reassuring their confidentiality. This allows us to estimate the extent of preference falsification in this context.
Randomization Method
Randomization done in office by a computer
Randomization Unit
The unit of randomization for the first intervention is localities. The unit of randomization for the second treatment intervention is individual.
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
214 localities.
Sample size: planned number of observations
2300 people across all localities.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
In each wave, 50-55 localities are treated. By the end of four waves, all are treated.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
University of Chicago
IRB Approval Date
2024-08-20
IRB Approval Number
IRB24-1329
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