ambiguity aversion and consumption

Last registered on April 15, 2025
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
ambiguity aversion and consumption
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0015657
Initial registration date
March 27, 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 15, 2025, 1:16 PM EDT

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

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Primary Investigator

Name
Penghui Yin
Affiliation
Central University of Finance and Economics
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Yulei Luo
PI Affiliation

Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2025-03-27
End date
2025-05-31
Keywords
Behavior
Additional Keywords
uncertainty, consumption adjustment
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
We use the methods developed in Li (2017) and Bianchi and Tallon (2019) to measure respondents' degree of ambiguity aversion. Then, we ask their consumption saving behaviors in order to study the role of ambiguity aversion in affecting their consumption-saving decisions.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Luo, Yulei and Penghui Yin. 2025. "ambiguity aversion and consumption." AEA RCT Registry. April 15. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.15657-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
We provide resondents with two lotteries, with one lottery showing the probability of winning and one showing no such probability. The first type of lottery, which is refered to number lottery, is drawing a ticket numbered from 1-100 from a box with 100 tickets. On each number lottery, there is a set of numbers, which varies from lottery to lottery, e.g. Lottery: winning numbers are 1, ..., 20.
For the second type of lottery, we follow Li (2007) and provide three phrases in Chinese (Beijing dialect, Shandong dialect and Shanghai dialect, respectively). We randomly assign these phrase lotteries to three groups. On each phrase lottery, there is a set of winning meansings which varies from lottery to lottery.
We can then obtain their preferences about uncertainty and risk by using the turning point of choice between two lotteries.
Intervention Start Date
2025-03-31
Intervention End Date
2025-04-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
degree of ambiguity aversion and consumption-saving decisions.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
First, we provide respondents two lotteries, among which one showing the probability of winning and one showing no probability of winning.
Second, we randomly assign the second type of lottery to different groups of participants. More precisely, the first type of lottery, which is refered to number lottery, is drawing a ticket numbered from 1-100 from a box with 100 tickets. On each number lottery, there is a set of numbers, which varies from lottery to lottery, e.g. Lottery: winning numbers are 1, ..., 20.
For the second type of lottery, we follow Li (2007) and provide three phrases in Chinese (Beijing dialect, Shandong dialect and Shanghai dialect, respectively). We randomly assign these phrase lotteries to three groups. On each phrase lottery, there is a set of winning meansings which varies from lottery to lottery. We can then obtain their preferences about uncertainty and risk by using the turning point of choice between two lotteries.
Third, we ask respondents their consumption-saving behaviors.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Public lottery
Randomization Unit
individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
1
Sample size: planned number of observations
500 individuals
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
500 both 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
IRB Approval Date
IRB Approval Number
Analysis Plan