Preferences for Attending Social Events: Testing Cultural Differences by Ancestral Religion

Last registered on October 06, 2025

View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

Preferences for Attending Social Events: Testing Cultural Differences by Ancestral Religion

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0016928

Initial registration date

October 01, 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

October 06, 2025, 11:35 AM EDT

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

Locations

Country

Switzerland

Region

Primary Investigator

Name

Jan Fasnacht

Affiliation

University of Chicago

Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status

On going

Start date

2025-09-19

End date

2025-12-31

Keywords

Behavior

Additional Keywords

Culture, Cultural transmission, Religion, Social Networks, COVID-19

JEL code(s)

D91, Z12, I12

Secondary IDs

Prior work

This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.

Abstract

This study tests whether ancestral religious background shapes social preferences through a stated-preference experiment among Swiss citizens aged 18-79. I examine whether individuals with Catholic versus Protestant ancestry differ in willingness to attend social events under varying infection risk and travel costs.

Participants (N=500) complete 8 binary choice vignettes across two modules. The Travel module varies travel time (1×, 2×, or 4× usual). The Risk module presents a hypothetical respiratory disease outbreak with infection probabilities of 5%, 10%, or 20%. Risk information is randomly attributed to either the respondent's personal doctor or the Federal Office of Public Health.

Ancestral religion is determined by matching respondents' Heimatort to 1850 census data. The primary outcome is the binary attendance decision. I estimate discrete choice models testing whether Catholic-ancestry individuals show higher baseline attendance and lower cost sensitivity.

This study complements an observational analysis of COVID-19 excess mortality by ancestral religious background in Switzerland.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Fasnacht, Jan. 2025. "Preferences for Attending Social Events: Testing Cultural Differences by Ancestral Religion." AEA RCT Registry. October 06. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.16928-1.0

Sponsors & Partners

Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

See pre-analysis plan.

Intervention (Hidden)

Intervention Start Date

2025-10-06

Intervention End Date

2025-10-20

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

See pre-analysis plan.

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

See pre-analysis plan.

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

See pre-analysis plan.

Experimental Design Details

Randomization Method

Randomization done by survey software (Qualtrics)

Randomization Unit

Individual

Was the treatment clustered?

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

N/A; 500 individuals

Sample size: planned number of observations

500 individuals

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

Approximately 250 respondents will be randomly assigned to receive risk information from their personal doctor, and approximately 250 from the Federal Office of Public Health (Risk module only). All respondents complete both Travel and Risk modules with randomized vignette orders. The primary analysis compares Catholic-ancestry individuals (expected ~40% of sample) to Protestant-ancestry individuals (expected ~60%), determined by matching respondents' Heimatort to 1850 census data.

Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)

Supporting Documents and Materials

IRB