Fair Discrimination

Last registered on October 13, 2025
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Fair Discrimination
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0016958
Initial registration date
October 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
October 13, 2025, 10:10 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

Primary Investigator

Name
Erik Ø. Sørensen
Affiliation
Norwegian School of Economics
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Sebastian Schweighofer-Kodritsch
PI Affiliation
Humboldt University
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PI Name
Ethan O'Leary
PI Affiliation
Norwegian School of Economics
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Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2025-10-08
End date
2026-05-01
Keywords
Behavior, Lab
Additional Keywords
statistical discrimination, fairness
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial is based on or builds upon one or more prior RCTs.
Abstract
Although statistical discrimination is often considered unfair, this judgment is typically based on the assumption that the underlying information is biased. By contrast, many economists view statistical discrimination based on unbiased information as both efficient and fair. This study introduces a new experimental design to examine how individuals perceive fairness under these conditions. The design allows us to distinguish between two dimensions: perceptions of the unfairness of inequalities arising from discrimination, and the extent to which fairness judgments depend on whether discrimination results from deliberate human choice.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
O'Leary, Ethan, Sebastian Schweighofer-Kodritsch and Erik Ø. Sørensen. 2025. "Fair Discrimination." AEA RCT Registry. October 13. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.16958-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
The interventions consist of three different sources of inequality in investment budgets within matched pairs. After being matched into pairs, participants are randomized to one of these inequality conditions and will later use their assigned budgets to play an investment game.
Intervention Start Date
2025-10-08
Intervention End Date
2025-10-22

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Participants make a binary choice between an unequal allocation (75, 0) and an equal allocation (50, 50).
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
Two participants are given unequal endowments to play an investment game, along with an additional participation fee of 50 cents each. The disadvantaged member of the pair is given the option to reallocate this participation fee, choosing between an equal allocation (50, 50) or an unequal allocation (75, 0).

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Participants provide subjective evaluations on a 1–5 scale of: 1) Whether the budget allocation was fair. 2) Whether the budget allocation was justified for maximizing earnings.
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Pairs of participants in an online experiment are assigned unequal budget allocations to play a Gneezy-Potters investment game. Before the investment game, the disadvantaged participant in each pair plays a dictator game involving a costly transfer between themselves and their partner.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Randomization is conducted by computer at the pair level within the online experiment, assigning each matched pair to one of the three inequality conditions.
Randomization Unit
Participants are matched into pairs consisting of one painting A identifier and one painting B identifier. These pairs are then randomized into treatment arms.
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
2025 pairs of individuals.
Sample size: planned number of observations
4050 individuals
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
675 pairs of individuals in each of three arms.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Assuming a baseline proportion of 40 percent, with two groups of n = 675 each, an alpha level of 0.05, and power of 0.80, the minimum detectable effect size is 7.6 percentage points.
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
NHH IRB
IRB Approval Date
2025-09-10
IRB Approval Number
2025-115
Analysis Plan