Housework division and preference for potential partner’s fertility intentions

Last registered on March 05, 2026
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Housework division and preference for potential partner’s fertility intentions
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0017816
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, 6:43 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
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2026-02-05
End date
2027-02-05
Keywords
Other
Additional Keywords
Fertility intentions, housework, field experiment, marriage market
JEL code(s)
C93, J13, D13
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
We conduct an incentivized field experiment in the marriage market to estimate preference for potential partner’s fertility intentions, examine how these preferences are affected by potential partners’ household labor division preferences, and explore heterogeneity in these effects across individuals.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
He, Haoran and Dan Wang. 2026. "Housework division and preference for potential partner’s fertility intentions." AEA RCT Registry. March 05. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.17816-1.0
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)
- Rating: How interested a participant is in a potential partner profile assuming the partner is interested in initiating contact and meeting with the participant, from worse than staying single to extremely ideal.
- Implied outcome of interest: Willingness to pay (WTP) for fertility intentions and housework division of the potential partners. Based on a reduced-form estimation of a linear model of rating against partner attributes, we can estimate WTP for potential partners’ fertility intentions and housework division by the ratio of the estimated coefficient on these attributes to the coefficient on income, respectively.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
n/a

Secondary Outcomes

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

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We conduct an incentivized field experiment in the marriage market to estimate preference for potential partner’s fertility intentions, examine how these preferences are affected by potential partners’ household labor division preferences, and explore heterogeneity in these effects across individuals.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
We made a stratified randomization based on participants’ gender.
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
1000 participants (subject to change due to unpredictable sample attrition).
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
n/a
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
n/a
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 2026-016
Analysis Plan

There is information in this trial unavailable to the public. Use the button below to request access.

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