Spending Money Earned by Your Partner on Yourself

Last registered on May 21, 2025
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Spending Money Earned by Your Partner on Yourself
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0015737
Initial registration date
May 09, 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
May 21, 2025, 11:53 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
Laramie, Wyoming

Primary Investigator

Name
Collin DePaemelere
Affiliation
University of Wyoming
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Linda Thunstrom
PI Affiliation
University of Wyoming
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PI Name
Ben GIlbert
PI Affiliation
Colorado School of Mines
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Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2025-05-09
End date
2025-08-31
Keywords
Behavior
Additional Keywords
Pain of paying, spending, social preferences, social distance
JEL code(s)
C91, D11, D14, D16, D31, D91
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
People frequently spend money earned by other people on themselves. Children spend their parents' money on groceries; romantic partners spend joint earnings from joint accounts; employees charge business meals to expense accounts. This study investigates how the source of money affects the willingness to pay and the pain of paying when individuals make purchases for themselves, focusing on self-earned versus romantic partner-earned income. To test how willingness to pay and pain of paying change when making purchases for oneself using self-earned versus other-earned money in a context with minimal social distance, we design an AB/BA within-subjects design laboratory experiment using romantic partners.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
DePaemelere, Collin, Ben GIlbert and Linda Thunstrom. 2025. "Spending Money Earned by Your Partner on Yourself." AEA RCT Registry. May 21. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.15737-1.0
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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
We investigate how the source of money affects willingness to pay and the pain of paying when spending on oneself. We conduct an AB/BA within-subjects design laboratory experiment with romantic couples in which one partner has the opportunity to spend money they earned or money their partner earned on an item for their personal use.
Intervention (Hidden)
We investigate how the source of money affects willingness to pay and the pain of paying when spending on oneself. We conduct an AB/BA within-subjects design laboratory experiment with romantic couples in which one partner has the opportunity to spend money they earned or money their partner earned on an item for their personal use.
Intervention Start Date
2025-05-09
Intervention End Date
2025-08-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Willingness to pay and pain of paying of purchasing an item for personal use using funds that are jointly owned with a partner, either earned by the spender themselves or their romantic partner.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
Willingness to pay (WTP): Measured as the bid amount (in dollars) that participants enter in the Becker-DeGroot-Marschak (BDM) auction for their selected consumer product.
Pain of paying: Measured using a validated 7-point smiley face Likert scale (from A="very positive" to G="very negative") that captures participants' emotional responses to spending. Participants report their feelings about purchasing the auctioned item with either self-earned or partner-earned money.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We will conduct a laboratory experiment with romantic couples in which one partner has the opportunity to spend either money they earned or money their partner earned. Participants will rank 10 consumer products according to their preferences and predict their partner's preferences. They will complete a real-effort matrix-counting task to earn $20, which is placed in a joint account to be split evenly at the end of the experiment. Using a Becker-DeGroot-Marschak (BDM) auction mechanism, we elicit participants' true willingness to pay for one of the ranked products.

The experiment employs an AB/BA within-subjects design with two rounds: In the first round, one partner earns money through the matrix task, and one partner (either the earner or non-earner, depending on treatment assignment) is given the opportunity to spend from the joint account. In the second round, the other partner earns money, while the same individual maintains the spending role.

Only one round is randomly selected for payment at the end of the experiment. After both rounds, participants report their feelings about spending using a validated pain-of-paying scale and complete a post-experiment questionnaire about their relationship characteristics, spendthriftiness (as measured by the Rick et al., 2008 instrument), and demographic information.
Experimental Design Details
We will conduct a laboratory experiment with romantic couples in which one partner has the opportunity to spend either money they earned or money their partner earned. Participants will rank 10 consumer products according to their preferences and predict their partner's preferences. They will complete a real-effort matrix-counting task to earn $20, which is placed in a joint account to be split evenly at the end of the experiment. Using a Becker-DeGroot-Marschak (BDM) auction mechanism, we elicit participants' true willingness to pay for one of the ranked products.

The experiment employs an AB/BA within-subjects design with two rounds: In the first round, one partner earns money through the matrix task, and one partner (either the earner or non-earner, depending on treatment assignment) is given the opportunity to spend from the joint account. In the second round, the other partner earns money, while the same individual maintains the spending role.

Only one round is randomly selected for payment at the end of the experiment. After both rounds, participants report their feelings about spending using a validated pain-of-paying scale and complete a post-experiment questionnaire about their relationship characteristics, spendthriftiness (as measured by the Rick et al., 2008 instrument), and demographic information.
Randomization Method
by a computer
Randomization Unit
Couple
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
0
Sample size: planned number of observations
280 individual participants (140 romantic couples). Each couple provides data for both treatments.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
70 couples assigned to sequence AB (self-earned money first, partner-earned money second) and 70 couples assigned to sequence BA (partner-earned money first, self-earned money second).
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials

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IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
University of Wyoming IRB
IRB Approval Date
2025-04-29
IRB Approval Number
IRB-2024-68
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