Immigration Salience and Punishment Preferences in Redistributive Contexts

Last registered on August 04, 2026
View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Immigration Salience and Punishment Preferences in Redistributive Contexts
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0019116
Initial registration date
July 28, 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
August 04, 2026, 9:19 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
Shams Mammadli
Affiliation
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2026-08-05
End date
2026-08-20
Keywords
Welfare
Additional Keywords
redistribution, immigration, misreporting, punishment, normative judgments
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
This study investigates how individuals evaluate abuse of redistributive systems and whether these judgments depend on contextual narratives surrounding immigration and redistribution. The study examines how exposure to socially and politically salient contexts shapes punishment preferences and enforcement behavior. This project contributes to research on redistribution and immigration attitudes by focusing on normative and behavioral responses to rule violations rather than policy preferences alone.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Mammadli, Shams. 2026. "Immigration Salience and Punishment Preferences in Redistributive Contexts." AEA RCT Registry. August 04. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.19116-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2026-08-05
Intervention End Date
2026-08-20

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
One primary outcome of the analysis will be the penalty decisions made by spectators across four groups. Another outcome will be the post-treatment survey responses about the participants' preferences for monitoring and penalty levels in the welfare system in the UK. I will use parametric and non-parametric tests to evaluate the treatment effects on penalty decisions. I will also run a regression analysis with the penalty decision as the dependent variable, treatment indicators as the independent variable, and available background variables as controls.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Additionally, heterogeneous treatment effects will be analyzed by subgroup characteristics.
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The experiment will consist of two sessions: player and spectator sessions. Players will perform an exercise to earn points. Some players might attempt to earn additional points through misreporting. This will be observed by spectators in the second session. They will decide how many penalty points to impose on the players.

I ran a pilot of this experiment before pre-registering the study in order to test the technical implementation. Data from this pilot will not be used for the analysis.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
randomization done by a computer
Randomization Unit
individual randomization
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
no planned clusters
Sample size: planned number of observations
300-500 players and 800-1000 spectators
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
Four spectator groups with a minimum of 200 participants in each
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Ethics Committee for the Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences at the University of Hamburg (EK WISO)
IRB Approval Date
2026-07-27
IRB Approval Number
2026-081
Analysis Plan