Intertemporal tradeoffs between multiple period payment streams: an online experiment

Last registered on January 10, 2020
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Intertemporal tradeoffs between multiple period payment streams: an online experiment
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0003983
Initial registration date
January 07, 2020

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 10, 2020, 11:22 AM EST

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

Locations

Country
Switzerland
Region
Neuchatel

Primary Investigator

Name
Serhiy Kandul
Affiliation
University of Zurich
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Bruno Lanz
PI Affiliation
University of Neuchatel
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Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2019-04-29
End date
2020-01-25
Keywords
Other
Additional Keywords
time preferences, separability, additivity, online experiment
JEL code(s)
C90, D01
Secondary IDs
Abstract
This study adds to the understanding of time preferences in situations where inter-temporal trade-offs extend beyond typical two-period scenario. In addition to the typical choice between smaller-sooner vs. later-larger amount in a two-period setting, a CTB approach, which strongly relies on the separability and additivity assumptions, our design investigates how people make trade-offs in a three-period elicitation task. In this richer environment, participants can possibly apply different discount rates to sooner vs later delays (e.g. declining discounting), or prefer to smooth the payments over multiple periods and violate separability.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Kandul, Serhiy and Bruno Lanz. 2020. "Intertemporal tradeoffs between multiple period payment streams: an online experiment." AEA RCT Registry. January 10. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.3983-1.0
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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
We elicit time preferences in an incentivized online experiment on Amazon Mechanical Turk.
Intervention Start Date
2020-01-14
Intervention End Date
2020-01-21

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Participants' discounts rate
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
risk preferences, curvature of the utility function,
intertemporal elasticity of substitution
discounting of environmental goods

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The experiment consists of three parts: two-period CTB eliciation task, three-period time preference elicitation, and a risk elicitation task,
Two-period CTB allows participants to allocate a budget between sooner and later payment date; the time intervals and the front delays vary (with and without an overlap which allows us to distinguish declining discounting from sub-additivity).
In the three-period time preferences elicitation, participants are asked to choose between two options, each of which envisages three payments of various amounts at the three fixed points in the future. The time intervals are the same for the two options, only the amounts differ. Risk elicitation is a standard multiple price list, a series of choices between safer and lower gains vs. riskier and higher gains.

Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
randomization by the computer (Qualtrics)
Randomization Unit
Individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
120
Sample size: planned number of observations
120 + 20 (pilot)
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
120
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
IRB Approval Date
IRB Approval Number
Analysis Plan

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