Obstinate Parties and Non-binding Outside Options in the Lab

Last registered on January 17, 2018

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Obstinate Parties and Non-binding Outside Options in the Lab
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0002674
Initial registration date
January 15, 2018

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
January 17, 2018, 11:03 AM EST

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

Locations

Region

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
BI Norwegian Business School

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Affiliation
BI Norwegian Business School
PI Affiliation
BI Norwegian Business School

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2018-01-16
End date
2018-07-01
Secondary IDs
Abstract
We set up a controlled laboratory experiment to test a bargaining model. There are obstinate types present in the population of bargainers, and bargainers may have access to outside options or not. In the model access to outside options removes the incentive non-obstinate bargainers have to mimik obstinate bargainers, with efficiency gains resulting.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Heggedal, Tom-Reiel, Leif Helland and Magnus Vaage Knutsen. 2018. "Obstinate Parties and Non-binding Outside Options in the Lab." AEA RCT Registry. January 17. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.2674-1.0
Former Citation
Heggedal, Tom-Reiel, Leif Helland and Magnus Vaage Knutsen. 2018. "Obstinate Parties and Non-binding Outside Options in the Lab." AEA RCT Registry. January 17. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/2674/history/24985
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
2 treatments with and without outside options respectively X 2 treatments with and without induced obstinate types respectively
Intervention Start Date
2018-01-16
Intervention End Date
2018-07-01

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Average length of play per block over treatments with and without outside options.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Average loss of payoffs per block over treatments with and without outside options.
Probability of obstinate demands per block over treatments with and without outside options.
Probability of exercising the outside options per block over treatments with and without outside options.
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Laboratory experiment: 2X2 design - with and without access to outside options; with and without induced obstinate types (robots that insist on a fixed demand).
Observational unit: average behavior in blocks of 8 human subjects. Subjects are kept within blocks and unique subjects are used in all treatments.
Random matching of subjects within a block in each new game.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomization done in office by a computer.
Randomization Unit
Subjects within matching blocks.
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
48 blocks (of 8 human subjects each)
Sample size: planned number of observations
48 blocks (of 8 human subjects each); requiring a total of 384 subjects.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
12 blocks per treatment.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Main effect: 7 percentage point difference - based on pilot study containing 2 treatments and 3 blocks per treatment. Standard deviation treatments: 0.07 and 0.01 respectively. Study is calibrated to give a power of 80 percent for the main treatment measure.
Supporting Documents and Materials

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IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
IRB Approval Date
IRB Approval Number

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials