Risk Disclosures and Investor Behavior Mechanisms

Last registered on October 27, 2025
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Risk Disclosures and Investor Behavior Mechanisms
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0017110
Initial registration date
October 27, 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 27, 2025, 9:18 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
John Gathergood
Affiliation
University of Nottingham
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Neil Stewart
PI Affiliation
Warwick Business School
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PI Name
Edika Quispe-Torreblanca
PI Affiliation
University of Leeds
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Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2025-11-01
End date
2026-04-30
Keywords
Behavior, Finance & Microfinance
Additional Keywords
Investing, Equities, Stock Market
JEL code(s)
G1, G4, G5
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial is based on or builds upon one or more prior RCTs.
Abstract
This study uses a hypothetical online survey-based randomised control trial to understand the mechanisms driving the effects of contextualised risk warnings on investor behavior. It follows on from the previous trial "Risk Disclosures and Investor Behavior", RCT ID AEARCTR-0013150. Results from the previous trial show positive treatment effects of the contextualised risk warnings on investment outcomes. This trial seeks to test between explanations for those effects, and also estimate interactions between the treatment and investor characteristics
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Gathergood, John, Edika Quispe-Torreblanca and Neil Stewart. 2025. "Risk Disclosures and Investor Behavior Mechanisms ." AEA RCT Registry. October 27. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.17110-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
In this randomised control trial we test mechanisms behind the effects of experimental variation in the risk disclosures shown on screen on an online trading website. A control group is shown a standard risk warning emphasising that the value of investments can fall as well as rise. A first treatment group is shown a varied risk warning that adds a further disclosure stating that in the medium run the returns from investing in stocks and shares usually exceed those from cash savings. A second treatment group is shown the a varied risk warning that further adds cited empirical evidence on the higher returns from investing compared with cash savings. A third treatment group is shown the same statements as the first treatment group, but with the sentence ordering reversed. We will collect information on the characteristics of subjects pre-trial, which allows us to estimate whether treatment effects vary by characteristics. We will collect information on the financial knowledge of subjects post-trial, which allows us to estimate whether the treatments increase financial knowledge (a hypothesised mechanism for the effects of the treatments)
Intervention Start Date
2025-11-01
Intervention End Date
2025-12-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
There are two primary outcomes.

First, how subjects allocate a hypothetical cash balance of £10,000 between savings and investments.

Second, how subjects perform on post-trial questions testing their financial knowledge of the stock market.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
The first outcome is a £-valued allocation across categories of saving and investment.

The second outcome is a set of responses to multiple-choice questions and questions in which the subject estimates how much an amount of money invested in stocks / cash in the past would be worth today in £ values

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The experimental design is a hypothetical online survey-based randomised control trial. Subjects will be recruited to the survey using the Prolific platform. They will undertake a pre-trial survey. One week later, they will be invited to participate in the trial. At this point, subjects agreeing to participate will be randomised into control and treatment groups and will complete the trial, followed by the post-trial questionnaire.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Randomisation via Prolific survey platform.
Randomization Unit
Individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
NA
Sample size: planned number of observations
4,000 subjects
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
1,000 subjects per arm (1,000 control; 1,000 each 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
University of Nottingham School of Economics
IRB Approval Date
2025-10-27
IRB Approval Number
N/A
Analysis Plan