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Higher Order Risk Preferences and Climate Change Attitudes

Last registered on April 04, 2025
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Higher Order Preferences and Climate Change Attitudes
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0015642
Initial registration date
March 24, 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
April 04, 2025, 12:45 PM 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
Texas

Primary Investigator

Name
Paul Feldman
Affiliation
Texas A&M University
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Andreas Drichoutis
PI Affiliation
Agricultural University of Athens
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PI Name
Marco Palma
PI Affiliation
Texas A&M University
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Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2025-03-24
End date
2028-04-01
Keywords
Behavior, Environment & Energy
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
We study the link between higher-order risk preferences and climate change.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Drichoutis, Andreas, Paul Feldman and Marco Palma. 2025. "Higher Order Preferences and Climate Change Attitudes." AEA RCT Registry. April 04. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.15642-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Online incentivized experiment.
Intervention (Hidden)
Recruit 400+ participants using Numerator for an incentivized survey. Participants decide how much money to donate to a climate change organization and how much to keep (main outcome measure). We also collected their risk attitudes through binary lottery choices. Lottery choices consider both delay in payments as well as financial payments. Binary choices measured either risk aversion, prudence, or temperance. Participants face 7 questions of each type or 7x3(order of risk)x2(time or money)=42 choices.
Intervention Start Date
2025-03-25
Intervention End Date
2026-04-01

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Willingness to donate to an organization that combats climate change.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
wtp for preventing climate change

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
(higher-order) risk preferences
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)
Binary choices measuring risk aversion, prudence, and temperance.

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
See the pre-analysis for more details. Online participants complete an online survey.
Experimental Design Details
The willingness to pay for climate change has already been preregistered and this measure collected (see AEARCTR-0015002), and we are drawing from the same subject pool. Subjects who decide to participate in this additional higher-order risk preference part all face the same 42 binary choices between lotteries. One in ten subjects will be randomly chosen to be paid based on one of their 42 lottery choices. All subjects see the same set of questions.
Randomization Method
Computer randomization for which subjects get paid based on their choices (1 in 10) and for determining their final payoff based on one random choice (1 in 42) and for determining the outcome of their chosen lottery.
Randomization Unit
All subjects face the same set of questions. Randomizing which subjects get paid (1 in 10) and for what choices (1 in 42).
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
Individual participants.
Sample size: planned number of observations
400
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
400
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
5 standard deviations.
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Human Research Protection Program
IRB Approval Date
2025-03-19
IRB Approval Number
MOD00001877
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