Preferences for redistribution and perceptions of inequality in Indonesia

Last registered on July 23, 2023

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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

Preferences for redistribution and perceptions of inequality in Indonesia

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0002571

Initial registration date

November 06, 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

November 07, 2017, 4:45 PM EST

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

Last updated

July 23, 2023, 1:59 PM EDT

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

Locations

Country

Indonesia

Region

Primary Investigator

Name

Christopher Hoy

Affiliation

Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status

In development

Start date

2017-11-07

End date

2024-01-31

Keywords

Governance, Welfare

Additional Keywords

Inequality

JEL code(s)

I31, I32, I38, D31, D63, D64, D72, D83, D91, H11, H20, H50, O50, P16, Z18

Secondary IDs

Prior work

This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.

Abstract

***NOTE: This study was pre-registered on the 6th of November 2017. The trial was completed on the 30th of November 2017. The trial end date on this registry has been extended because the final paper has not yet been accepted for journal publication.***

This project explores whether preferences for redistribution in Indonesia are reduced because people underestimate the level of inequality and overestimate the degree of social mobility. Studying these concepts interactively is consistent with a number of seminal models and provides important additional insight. This research will be conducted through an online experiment in Indonesia whereby ‘information interventions’ about inequality and mobility are provided to randomly selected treatment groups to see the impact on their preferences for redistribution. These information interventions are motivated by misperceptions of inequality and mobility that were revealed in a 2014 nationally representative survey.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Hoy, Christopher. 2023. "Preferences for redistribution and perceptions of inequality in Indonesia." AEA RCT Registry. July 23. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.2571-9.3

Former Citation

Hoy, Christopher. 2023. "Preferences for redistribution and perceptions of inequality in Indonesia." AEA RCT Registry. July 23. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/2571/history/187517

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

Various combinations of the following three ‘information interventions’ will be provided in the online experiment:

1) Information about the Level of Inequality in Indonesia
2) Information about the Prospect for Upward Mobility in Indonesia
3) Information about a survey respondents Place in Distribution

Intervention Start Date

2017-11-07

Intervention End Date

2017-11-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

There are two main outcomes of interest. These are:
1) Concern about inequality
2) Preferences for redistribution

(the analysis plan in the documents section explains which questions are used to measure these outcomes)

The key research questions are as follows:
- What are the underlying preferences for redistribution in Indonesia?
- Are preferences for redistribution elastic?
- What types of information about inequality have the largest effect on preferences for redistribution?
- Will providing information about both inequality and mobility have a larger effect on preferences for redistribution than just providing information about inequality?
- Are people’s preferences for redistribution influenced more by information about their place in the distribution or information about a combination of the overall level of inequality and mobility?

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

The impact of the information interventions will be evaluated via an online survey. This survey will be conducted in late 2017.

This is a randomized control trial at the individual level. There will be 3 treatment groups and one control group with 875 people in each. The three treatment groups will receive one of the following interventions:

(T1) - information about the level of inequality

(T2) - information about both inequality and mobility

(T3) - information about a respondent’s place in the distribution

Experimental Design Details

Randomization Method

The randomization process occurred through a command in the survey firm’s customized software.

Randomization Unit

Individual level

Was the treatment clustered?

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

N/A

Sample size: planned number of observations

3500 individuals

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

875 individuals in each treatment arm and the control group.

Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)

Power calculations have been conducted to estimate the sample size required based upon the average effect size and treatment group size of similar studies on this topic (eg Karadja et al (2017)). The minimum detectable effect size is around 7.5 percentage points (with power 0.8 and alpha 0.05) as the sample size is 875 in each group. It is assumed that the effect size in this project will be larger than in other studies because the ‘information interventions’ contain more information and existing misperceptions in Indonesia are larger than what existed in the developed countries used in other studies.

Supporting Documents and Materials