Soil Pollution Information Provision and Stakeholder Response

Last registered on September 03, 2025
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Soil Pollution Information Provision and Stakeholder Response
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0016641
Initial registration date
August 29, 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
September 03, 2025, 8:55 AM EDT

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

Locations

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Primary Investigator

Name
Xianling Long
Affiliation
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Guojun He
PI Affiliation
The University of Hong Kong
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PI Name
Zilin Chen
PI Affiliation
Peking University
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Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2025-06-01
End date
2026-09-15
Keywords
Environment & Energy
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
This study investigates how information about soil pollution affects market behavior. We will conduct a randomized controlled trial (RCT) to examine how different forms of information disclosure (private vs public) affect decisions by intermediaries, sellers, and buyers. The experiment is designed to identify both direct effects of information on treated units and general equilibrium spillovers to untreated units. By varying the recipient of private information, we also test how asymmetric access to environmental information shapes strategic behavior. The results will contribute to our understanding of market responses to environmental information, the behavioral consequences of selective transparency, and the design of information disclosure policies.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Chen, Zilin, Guojun He and Xianling Long. 2025. "Soil Pollution Information Provision and Stakeholder Response." AEA RCT Registry. September 03. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.16641-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2025-09-15
Intervention End Date
2026-04-15

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
responses to our information; citizen attention; market equilibrium results.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We conduct a randomized controlled trial to study how information about local soil pollution affects market behavior on a digital platform. The units of randomization are neighborhoods within cities, and the intervention consists of disclosing environmental risk information in different formats and to different recipients.

The experimental arms include: a control group receiving general public information, private information disclosure to intermediaries, private information disclosure to sellers, and public disclosure.

The trial is cross-randomized at the city level to vary treatment intensity (high vs low share of treated neighborhoods) and the share of private vs public disclosure. The design allows us to estimate both the direct impact of information provision on treated units and indirect spillovers on untreated units.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Randomization done by a computer
Randomization Unit
Three levels of randomization: city level, neighborhood level, and home level.
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
more than 30,000 neighborhoods
Sample size: planned number of observations
more than 30,000 neighborhoods
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
more than 20,000 neighborhoods divided into 5 treatment arms
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Peking University Institutional Review Board
IRB Approval Date
2025-08-28
IRB Approval Number
2025162
Analysis Plan