How language affects economic behavior: Evidence with adolescents from Switzerland

Last registered on December 28, 2017
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
How language affects economic behavior: Evidence with adolescents from Switzerland
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0002021
Initial registration date
March 31, 2017

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
April 03, 2017, 10:54 AM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Last updated
December 28, 2017, 12:43 PM EST

Last updated is the most recent time when changes to the trial's registration were published.

Locations

Country
Switzerland
Region
Fribourg

Primary Investigator

Name
Svitlana Tyahlo
Affiliation
University of Fribourg
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Tjaša Maillard-Bjedov
PI Affiliation
Formation universitaire à distance, Suisse
PI Name
Martin Huber
PI Affiliation
University of Fribourg
PI Name
Holger Herz
PI Affiliation
University of Fribourg

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2017-04-03
End date
2017-04-05
Keywords
Finance & Microfinance
Additional Keywords
Time preferences, risk preferences, present bias, risk aversion, intertemporal choice, language, adolescents
JEL code(s)
D03, D14, D90, Z13
Secondary IDs
Abstract
The linguistic-savings hypothesis (see Chen, M. K., 2013: “The Effect of Language on Economic Behavior: Evidence from Savings Rates, Health Behaviors, and Retirement Assets”, American Economic Review, 103(2), pp. 690-731) states that languages that grammatically associate the future and the present foster future-oriented behavior in terms of savings and other economic outcomes. Our study primarily investigates differences in time preferences between French and German speaking students in a secondary school in the Swiss canton of Fribourg. We conduct a pen-and-paper study with real payoffs to test (i) whether there are differences between French and German speakers in exponential discount rates (δ) and (ii) whether there are differences between French and German speakers in present bias (β), and (iii) whether the bilingual exhibit lower (larger) time discounting than French (German) speakers.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Herz, Holger et al. 2017. "How language affects economic behavior: Evidence with adolescents from Switzerland." AEA RCT Registry. December 28. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.2021-4.0
Former Citation
Herz, Holger et al. 2017. "How language affects economic behavior: Evidence with adolescents from Switzerland." AEA RCT Registry. December 28. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/2021/history/24562
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
We do not implement a classical intervention, since our hypotheses are based on natural language differences between subjects.
Intervention (Hidden)
Intervention Start Date
2017-04-03
Intervention End Date
2017-04-05

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
We measure time preferences using 4-week exponential discounting rate δ and present bias β.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
Please see the attached document "Outcomes explanation".

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
A pen-and-paper based study takes place during regular school hours in a bilingual secondary school in the Swiss canton of Fribourg. Pupils voluntary participate in the study involving incentivized choice experiments for time and risk preferences. In addition, we collect important sociodemographic characteristics (e.g., gender, year and months of birth, migration background, parents’ background, language exposures, family structure and material conditions, schooling, plans for the future, values) that are likely to correlate with the study language and outcomes of interest.
Experimental Design Details
We elicit adolescents’ time preferences using two multiple price lists with real payoffs. Each price list consists of 12 decisions between earlier payoffs and delayed payoffs. The delayed payoffs are fixed at CHF 20. In the first price list, pupils choose between the payoff in the present and the delayed payoff in 4 weeks. In the second price list, pupils decide between the earlier payoff in 4 weeks and the delayed payoff in 8 weeks. The earlier payoffs vary between CHF 9 and CHF 20 in steps of CHF 1. Before making their decisions for each of the price lists, pupils answer the corresponding comprehension questions. At the end of the study, each pupil rolls a 24-sided cube to randomly select which decision out of two multiple price lists should be implemented. The delayed payments are delivered on the corresponding date per post.
We use a lottery task with real payoffs to approximate adolescents’ risk tolerance. Pupils make 10 decisions between a certain payoff and the coin toss. The former varies between CHF 1 and CHF 10 in steps of CHF 1, where the latter yields CHF 10 in case of “heads” and CHF 0 in case of “tails”. Before making their decisions, pupils answer comprehension questions. At the end of the study, each pupil rolls a 10-sided cube to randomly select which decision should be implemented. Payments are made immediately.
Pupils additionally answer a set of sociodemographic questions, including gender, year and month of birth, family structure and material conditions, parents’ background, schooling, migration background, values, native language, language exposure at home and with friends, plans for the future.
Randomization Method
We do not implement a classical randomization, since our hypotheses are based on natural language differences between pupils.
Randomization Unit
We do not implement a classical randomization, since our hypotheses are based on natural language differences between pupils.
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
The number of clusters corresponds to the number of classes represented in the study. There are 20 German-speaking classes and 9 French-speaking classes yielding in total 29 clusters conditional on full attendance.
Sample size: planned number of observations
Total of 561 observations conditional on full attendance.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
381 pupils in the German and 180 pupils in the French part of school conditional on full attendance.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials

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IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Direction de l’instruction publique, de la culture et du sport
IRB Approval Date
2016-12-16
IRB Approval Number
JMO/ cl. enq 16-17
Analysis Plan

Analysis Plan Documents

Analysis plan

MD5: a0bb87f511b9b0f4230ad93b284f0729

SHA1: f1927bd219c2ea6607cda96cbfeb95346cc749d8

Uploaded At: March 31, 2017

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
Yes
Intervention Completion Date
April 05, 2017, 12:00 +00:00
Data Collection Complete
Yes
Data Collection Completion Date
April 05, 2017, 12:00 +00:00
Final Sample Size: Number of Clusters (Unit of Randomization)
The number of clusters corresponds to the number of classes represented in the study. There are 20 German-speaking classes and 9 French-speaking classes yielding in total 29 clusters.
Was attrition correlated with treatment status?
Final Sample Size: Total Number of Observations
Total of 496 observations.
Final Sample Size (or Number of Clusters) by Treatment Arms
There are 347 pupils in the German and 149 pupils in the French part of school.
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials