SEC Perceptions — Information Experiment

Last registered on August 27, 2026
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
SEC Perceptions — Information Experiment
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0019464
Initial registration date
August 20, 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 27, 2026, 11:49 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
Austin Moss
Affiliation
University of Colorado Boulder
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Jacqueline Wegner
PI Affiliation
University of Southern California
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Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2026-08-20
End date
2026-12-31
Keywords
Governance
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
This study is a randomized online experiment examining whether information about the performance of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) affects public perceptions of the SEC and investing-related attitudes.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Moss, Austin and Jacqueline Wegner. 2026. "SEC Perceptions — Information Experiment." AEA RCT Registry. August 27. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.19464-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2026-08-20
Intervention End Date
2026-08-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
• SEC Perception — favorability rating of the SEC (1 = very unfavorable, 10 = very favorable).
• SEC Perception − Mean of Non-SEC Perception — the SEC favorability rating minus the participant’s mean favorability rating of four other federal agencies, each rated on the same scale.
• Willingness to Invest — willingness to invest a hypothetical windfall in the stock market (1 = not at all willing, 7 = extremely willing).
• Trust in Reported Information — agreement that the financial information reported by public companies can be trusted (1 = strongly disagree, 7 = strongly agree).
• Market Fairness — agreement that U.S. stock markets are fair to ordinary investors (1 = strongly disagree, 7 = strongly agree).
• Investor Protection — agreement that investors are well protected against fraud and manipulation in U.S. markets (1 = strongly disagree, 7 = strongly agree).
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The experiment uses a two-condition between-subjects design. Participants are randomly assigned by the survey platform, with even allocation, to one of two conditions. In each condition, participants view three researcher-constructed, news-style headlines about the SEC’s performance of its regulatory duties, presented in random order. The headlines form three matched pairs: within each pair, the topic, attribution, sentence structure, and length are held constant, and only the valence of the described SEC performance differs. Participants in the favorable condition see the three favorable versions; participants in the unfavorable condition see the three unfavorable versions. After viewing the headlines, participants complete the outcome measures listed above.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Participants are randomly assigned by the survey platform, with even allocation, to one of two conditions.
Randomization Unit
Individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
960
Sample size: planned number of observations
960
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
480 positive; 480 negative
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
18% of a standard deviation of the outcome
Supporting Documents and Materials

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IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
University of Colorado Boulder
IRB Approval Date
2026-08-07
IRB Approval Number
26-0501
Analysis Plan