Wage information and Fertility Intentions

Last registered on March 05, 2026
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Wage information and Fertility Intentions
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0017815
Initial registration date
February 26, 2026

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
March 05, 2026, 6:46 AM EST

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
Haoran He
Affiliation
Beijing Normal University
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Dan Wang
PI Affiliation
Beijing Normal University
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PI Name
Qian Weng
PI Affiliation
Renmin University of China
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Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2026-02-05
End date
2027-02-05
Keywords
Other
Additional Keywords
Wage information, fertility intentions, field experiment, marriage market
JEL code(s)
C93, J12, J13
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
We conduct a field experiment on a large Chinese online matchmaking platform to analyze how partner seekers’ fertility intentions are affected by factual information about Chinese couple’s hourly wage changes following the birth of a first child.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
He, Haoran, Dan Wang and Qian Weng. 2026. "Wage information and Fertility Intentions." AEA RCT Registry. March 05. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.17815-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
n/a
Intervention Start Date
2026-02-05
Intervention End Date
2027-02-05

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
- Fertility intentions: capturing both quantum and timing dimensions, including desired number of children, the subjective probabilities of having each child, and the expected age at which each child is planned to be born.
- Posterior beliefs: beliefs about hourly wage and annual after-tax wage income changes for the participant’s couple after the information intervention.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
n/a

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
n/a
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)
n/a

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We conduct a field experiment on a large Chinese online matchmaking platform to analyze how partner seekers’ fertility intentions are affected by factual information about Chinese couple’s hourly wage changes following the birth of a first child.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Randomization is done by the online survey system. Participants are randomly assigned to either a treatment group or a control group.
Randomization Unit
The unit of randomization is at the participant level.
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
n/a
Sample size: planned number of observations
about 1000 participants (subject to change due to unpredictable sample attrition).
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
1000/2
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
As the sample is large enough, power for economically significant effects is not a concern. But if needed, we will calculate power after the data is collected and standard deviations are known.
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Business School of Beijing Normal University
IRB Approval Date
2026-02-03
IRB Approval Number
BNU-BS-IRB 2026-018
Analysis Plan

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