Political Trust and Preferences for Government Policies

Last registered on October 28, 2025
View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Political Trust and Preferences for Government Policies
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0015883
Initial registration date
May 08, 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 14, 2025, 10:44 AM EDT

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

Last updated
October 28, 2025, 2:35 AM EDT

Last updated is the most recent time when changes to the trial's registration were published.

Locations

Country
Japan
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Daiki Kishishita
Affiliation
Tokyo University of Science
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Tomoko Matsumoto
PI Affiliation
Tokyo University of Science

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2025-05-15
End date
2025-06-06
Keywords
Electoral, Governance, Welfare
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
Previous studies have empirically examined whether higher political trust influences policy preferences (Devine, 2024), with a particular focus on support for redistribution. However, this literature faces two limitations. First, there are multiple policy tools to expand the size of government—such as increasing income taxation on the rich, boosting targeted spending for the poor, or raising consumption taxes—but existing studies rarely compare the effect of political trust across these different instruments. Second, most studies focus narrowly on redistribution, making it difficult to assess how the effect of political trust on redistribution compares to its impact on preferences for other types of policies. The present study addresses these limitations by introducing a novel experimental design that combines an information provision experiment with a conjoint survey, allowing for a more comprehensive and comparative analysis
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Kishishita, Daiki and Tomoko Matsumoto. 2025. "Political Trust and Preferences for Government Policies." AEA RCT Registry. October 28. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.15883-1.1
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Information that increases political trust level.
Intervention (Hidden)
Control: Respondents are asked to guess the proportion of political donations among the revenue of political parties. Then, they are asked to answer whether politicians collude with the rich and business elites.

Treatment: Respondents are asked to guess the proportion of political donations among the revenue of political parties. After this, respondents are informed of the correct number (15%) on the proportion of political donations among the revenue of political parties. Then, they are asked to answer whether politicians collude with the rich and business elites.
Intervention Start Date
2025-05-15
Intervention End Date
2025-06-06

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Policy preferences measured by a conjoint experiment.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We collect around 1,500 participants in Japan. The survey design is summarized as follows. After several socio-demographic questions are asked, respondents are randomly assigned to one of the control and treatment groups. Afterward, each respondent will join a conjoint experiment.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
randomization done in office by a computer
Randomization Unit
individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
1,500 individuals
Sample size: planned number of observations
1,500 individuals
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
750 individuals for the control and 750 individuals for the treatment
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 of Tokyo University of Science
IRB Approval Date
2025-05-07
IRB Approval Number
24085
Analysis Plan

Analysis Plan Documents

preanalysis_plan

MD5: e711a06c317f320ada6bde7513295de8

SHA1: 2429fe64ac5418b4f7f7e2dc596ac28524826389

Uploaded At: April 25, 2025

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

There is information in this trial unavailable to the public. Use the button below to request access.

Request Information

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