Beliefs about gender differences in wages and the demand for public policy: representative evidence

Last registered on January 24, 2020
View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Beliefs about gender differences in wages and the demand for public policy: representative evidence
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0003252
Initial registration date
August 31, 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
September 06, 2018, 5:13 PM EDT

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

Last updated
January 24, 2020, 12:35 PM EST

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

Locations

Country
United States of America
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Sonja Settele
Affiliation
Goethe University Frankfurt
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2018-08-31
End date
2019-01-03
Keywords
Gender, Labor
Additional Keywords
Beliefs, Political Behavior
JEL code(s)
C91, D83, J38, J78
Secondary IDs
Abstract
I examine whether and how people's beliefs about gender differences in wages causally affect their demand for related policy interventions and shed light on underlying mechanisms. For the experimental study which I outline in a pre-analysis plan I collect novel data from a large sample of adults from the U.S. via an online survey. The experiment proceeds in two waves: In the first wave, I ask all respondents to give their incentivized best guess on the wage difference between men and women with specified characteristics. Afterward, participants who were randomly assigned to one of two treatment groups receive information on the wage statistic based on one of two recent household surveys conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. A pure control group does not receive any information update. I use self-reported and behavioral measures in order to elicit all respondents' demand for policy interventions related to women's progress in the labor market. This set-up allows me to examine the effect of information and ultimately of beliefs regarding the gender wage gap on demand for related government intervention. I also examine how people update their beliefs about underlying reasons for gender differences in wages when exposed to information about these wage differences. The second wave of the experiment consists in an obfuscated follow-up survey which is performed two to three weeks after the first wav in order to examine the persistence of any initial information treatment effect in a setting where potential experimenter demand effects are mitigated.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Settele, Sonja. 2020. "Beliefs about gender differences in wages and the demand for public policy: representative evidence." AEA RCT Registry. January 24. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.3252-2.1
Former Citation
Settele, Sonja. 2020. "Beliefs about gender differences in wages and the demand for public policy: representative evidence." AEA RCT Registry. January 24. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/3252/history/61351
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
See pre-analysis plan.
Intervention Start Date
2018-08-31
Intervention End Date
2018-09-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
See pre-analysis plan.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
See pre-analysis plan.
Experimental Design Details
Survey experiment with randomized information treatement. For details see pre-analysis plan.
Randomization Method
Randomization in office done by a computer.
Randomization Unit
individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
2500 individuals in the main survey and approximately 1000-1200 in the follow-up survey.
Sample size: planned number of observations
2500 individuals in the main survey and approximately 1200 in the follow-up survey.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
Treatment group 1: approx. 1000 individuals
Treatment group 2: approx. 1000 individuals
Control group: approx. 500 individuals
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
See pre-analysis plan.
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Joint Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration of Goethe University Frankfurt and the Gutenberg School of Management & Economics of the Faculty of Law, Management and Economics of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz
IRB Approval Date
2018-05-17
IRB Approval Number
N/A
Analysis Plan

There is information in this trial unavailable to the public. Use the button below to request access.

Request Information

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

There is information in this trial unavailable to the public. Use the button below to request access.

Request Information

Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Yes
Data Collection Completion Date
January 03, 2019, 12:00 +00:00
Final Sample Size: Number of Clusters (Unit of Randomization)
Was attrition correlated with treatment status?
No
Final Sample Size: Total Number of Observations
4,065
Final Sample Size (or Number of Clusters) by Treatment Arms
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials