Fair Trade Agreements

Last registered on May 06, 2026
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Fair Trade Agreements
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0018534
Initial registration date
May 02, 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
May 06, 2026, 11:18 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
Davin Chor
Affiliation
Tuck School of Business, Dartmouth
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Francesco Passarelli
PI Affiliation
University of Turin
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PI Name
Robert Staiger
PI Affiliation
Dartmouth
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Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2026-05-06
End date
2027-01-05
Keywords
Other
Additional Keywords
International Trade, Fairness
JEL code(s)
F11, F13
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
In considering whether free trade is desirable, norms of fairness have increasingly been voiced by citizens and their governments around the world. In this survey project, we set out to: (i) gather information on the extent to which fairness considerations influence individuals’ support for free trade and their preferences over trade policies; and (ii) interpret how these fairness considerations could affect the design of free trade agreements between countries. We will further examine whether the identity of key US trade partners (made salient through randomized assignment in survey question wording) might shape respondents' views on fairness and trade.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Chor, Davin, Francesco Passarelli and Robert Staiger. 2026. "Fair Trade Agreements." AEA RCT Registry. May 06. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.18534-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2026-05-06
Intervention End Date
2027-01-05

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Our key outcome variables will be the views expressed by the respondents on fairness and international trade in Parts 2 and 3 of the survey (i.e., the Theory-Directed Module and Preferences-Directed Module). This will allow us to examine whether respondents' concerns are about the specific "unfair" foreign policy per se or about the trade effects that it generates. We will compare the responses received across the Control, "China", and "EU" treatment groups, to explore whether fairness concerns in international trade are contingent on the identity of the foreign trade partner country involved.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We have designed a survey, mounted on Qualtrics, with four parts.

Part 1: Basic Background information. After obtaining respondent consent, this first section of the survey gathers basic biodata, as well as respondents' baseline socioeconomic and political views.

Part 2: Theory-Directed Module (TDM). In this section, the survey participants will be asked to consider a series of hypothetical scenarios. These are designed to elicit their personal views on what they would consider to be fair outcomes involving a hypothetical change to a foreign-country policy and potential shifts that this could induce in trade volumes with the US (the home country).

Part 3: Preference-Directed Module (PDM). In this section, we directly ask individuals about their views and preferences over policies that have fairness implications in the context of international trade. The goal is to elicit these views, not via stylized hypotheticals, but rather posed as a direct question about preferences or views over policies that a foreign country might adopt.

Part 4: Validation questions and Conclusion.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Randomization will be automated within the Qualtrics survey. Each respondent will be randomized with an equal probability to either the Control (no country named), "China" treatment group, or "EU" treatment group. The sample will be gathered via Prolific, a professional technology company that specializes in administering online surveys, including for academic research projects.
Randomization Unit
Individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
2,000 Individuals, to be representative in the aggregate of the US general population along five dimensions: gender, age, race, region, education.
Sample size: planned number of observations
2,000 individuals
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
1/3 in the Control group, 1/3 in the "China" treatment group, 1/3 in the "EU" treatment group
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Dartmouth College Committee for the Protection of Human Subjects
IRB Approval Date
2026-02-04
IRB Approval Number
STUDY00033644
Analysis Plan