Field Evidence on Firms’ Information Acquisition

Last registered on April 22, 2025
View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Field Evidence on Firms’ Information Acquisition
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0015820
Initial registration date
April 16, 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 22, 2025, 9:38 AM EDT

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

Locations

Country
Germany
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Manuel Menkhoff
Affiliation
ifo Institute
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2025-04-08
End date
2025-12-31
Keywords
Behavior, Firms & Productivity
Additional Keywords
D22, D80, E70
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
I study firms' information acquisition in the field.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Menkhoff, Manuel. 2025. "Field Evidence on Firms’ Information Acquisition." AEA RCT Registry. April 22. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.15820-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Provide two different pieces of information to firms.
Intervention (Hidden)
Firms in group A receive ifo forecast without summary and group B receives ifo forecast with management summary (both provided via the download platform).
Intervention Start Date
2025-04-08
Intervention End Date
2025-12-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Number of downloads (also independent of the experiment), micro/macro expectations/forecast errors
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
Micro/macro expectations correspond to expectations about firm outcomes and the macroeconomy (and their forecast errors).

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The experimental component of the research design consists of randomization into two groups.
Experimental Design Details
Firms in group A receive ifo forecast without summary and group B receives ifo forecast with management summary (both provided via the download platform).
Randomization Method
randomization done in office by a computer
Randomization Unit
sectors (industry, services, trade, and construction) and firm size
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
4 sectors x 5 size gruoups
Sample size: planned number of observations
6000 firms
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
3000 no summary, 3000 summary
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

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