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Race and Redistribution

Last registered on June 25, 2021

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Race and Redistribution
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0003988
Initial registration date
May 24, 2019

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
May 27, 2019, 5:02 PM EDT

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

Last updated
June 25, 2021, 2:17 PM EDT

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

Locations

Region

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
Boston University

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Affiliation
Harvard University
PI Affiliation
Harvard University

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2019-04-17
End date
2021-08-31
Secondary IDs
Abstract
We study what black and white respondents know about the economic circumstances and opportunities of their own racial group, as well as the other racial groups. We check how these perceptions compare to reality and how they shape attitudes towards government intervention and policies. We randomly provide respondents information about the historical evolution of earnings for black and white men and women, as well as about the social mobility for black and white children and see how this shapes their views about racial disparities and government policies. We also conduct a simplified survey on very young people aged 13 to 18 to measure their perceptions and attitudes on race related topics. We focus on this age group since these teenage years are very impressionable years in which people form their views and this will help us to understand at what age certain attitudes already become well-established in people minds. We collect a second wave of respondents during the COVID-19 pandemic. Comparing them to the previous wave, we are able to check how this crisis affected people's perceptions and their policy preferences.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Alesina, Alberto, Matteo Francesco Ferroni and Stefanie Stantcheva. 2021. "Race and Redistribution." AEA RCT Registry. June 25. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.3988-1.2000000000000002
Former Citation
Alesina, Alberto, Matteo Francesco Ferroni and Stefanie Stantcheva. 2021. "Race and Redistribution." AEA RCT Registry. June 25. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/3988/history/94555
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
We elicit respondents' perceptions about the economic circumstances of their racial group and the other racial group, as well as about a range of government policies. In a randomized way, we provide respondents (the teenagers and the first wave of adults) with information about the historical evolution of earnings for black and white men and women, or about the social mobility, i.e., the likelihood that black and white children born in poor families make it to each quintile of the income distribution. In the second wave of adults collected during the COVID19 pandemic, we explain in a randomized way why poor people and black people are more likely to be economically affected by this crisis. The control groups sees no information.
Intervention Start Date
2019-05-01
Intervention End Date
2020-09-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
We are interested in i) perceptions about the economic circumstances of one's own racial group and the other racial group, ii) attitudes and views about the economic circumstances and opportunities or discrimination for different racial groups, iii) support for various government policies related to redistribution or race.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
We will construct summary indices (sum of z scores) to summarize i) misperceptions ii) attitudes towards racial discrimination and opportunities, iii) support for government policies.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We will randomize the information provided respondents. One group sees the historical evolution of earnings for white and black men and women; the other group sees probabilities of black and white children born in poor families to make it to each quintile of the income distribution; the control groups sees no information. In the second wave, one group sees the negative effect of the crisis on poor people; the other group sees the negative effect of the crisis on black people. We also randomize the order in which perceptions are elicited about black and white people (some see questions about black people first, others about white people first). We also randomize the amount of monetary incentives provided to respondents for correct answers.
Experimental Design Details
The experiment will consist in an online survey that will be sent to a representative sample of the US population along the age, income and gender dimensions. On the race dimension, the sample will consist of 50% white respondents and 50% black respondents. For the survey on teenagers, the sample will be representative of the US population along the income of parents and we will collect the same share along gender and age dimension. On the race dimension, here as well the sample will consist of 50% white respondents and 50% black respondents.
Participants will be asked to answer to different kind of questions. Initially, they will be asked questions on their background. In this way we will be able to collect the demographic characteristics of the participants and information on their socio-economic background. Then, they will be asked to answer many different questions that we regrouped in four blocks. The perception block, with questions on socio-economic characteristics of the US; the attitude block, where we ask the respondents view on race related topics such as discrimination; the race policy block, containing questions on whether respondents are in favor or against certain policies in favor of Blacks; and the redistribution block, where we try to understand which are the respondents preferences in terms of taxation and government expenditure. For the second wave of adults, we also ask some questions relative to the current COVID19 pandemic. All the questions can be found in the attached document.
The experiment is designed to have different layers of randomization. A first randomization will consist in the treatment assignment that will be showed after the background block, as discussed in more details in the "Intervention" section. Half of the participants will be randomly incentivized with an additional monetary compensation if they answer correctly to the questions in the perception block, those questions which have a correct answer. We will also randomize the order in which the questions block will appear. Finally, since we ask many times the same question both about Whites and Blacks, we will also randomize the order of these question. It will be done in such a way that half of participants will have to first answer to the question on Whites and then on Blacks, the other half the other way around.
Randomization Method
Randomization done by a computer
Randomization Unit
Individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
5,000 adult individuals in first wave
2,000 adult individuals in second wave
2,000 teenager (13-17 yo) individuals
Sample size: planned number of observations
5,000 adult individuals in first wave 2,000 adult individuals in second wave 2,000 teenager (13-17 yo) individuals
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
First Adult Wave:
208 individuals with Treatment 1, monetary incentives, order 1, questions on Blacks first
208 individuals with Treatment 1, monetary incentives, order 1, questions on Whites first
208 individuals with Treatment 1, monetary incentives, order 2, questions on Blacks first
208 individuals with Treatment 1, monetary incentives, order 2, questions on Whites first
208 individuals with Treatment 1 and no monetary incentives, order 1, questions on Blacks first
208 individuals with Treatment 1 and no monetary incentives, order 1, questions on Whites first
208 individuals with Treatment 1 and no monetary incentives, order 2, questions on Blacks first
208 individuals with Treatment 1 and no monetary incentives, order 2, questions on Whites first
208 individuals with Treatment 2 and monetary incentives, order 1, questions on Blacks first
208 individuals with Treatment 2 and monetary incentives, order 1, questions on Whites first
208 individuals with Treatment 2 and monetary incentives, order 2, questions on Blacks first
208 individuals with Treatment 2 and monetary incentives, order 2, questions on Whites first
208 individuals with Treatment 2 and no monetary incentives, order 1, questions on Blacks first
208 individuals with Treatment 2 and no monetary incentives, order 1, questions on Whites first
208 individuals with Treatment 2 and no monetary incentives, order 2, questions on Blacks first
208 individuals with Treatment 2 and no monetary incentives, order 2, questions on Whites first
209 control individuals with monetary incentives, order 1, questions on Blacks first
209 control individuals with monetary incentives, order 1, questions on Whites first
209 control individuals with monetary incentives, order 2, questions on Blacks first
209 control individuals with monetary incentives, order 2, questions on Whites first
209 control individuals with no monetary incentives, order 1, questions on Blacks first
209 control individuals with no monetary incentives, order 1, questions on Whites first
209 control individuals with no monetary incentives, order 2, questions on Blacks first
209 control individuals with no monetary incentives, order 2, questions on Whites first

Second Adult Wave:
83 individuals with Treatment 1, monetary incentives, order 1, questions on Blacks first
83 individuals with Treatment 1, monetary incentives, order 1, questions on Whites first
83 individuals with Treatment 1, monetary incentives, order 2, questions on Blacks first
83 individuals with Treatment 1, monetary incentives, order 2, questions on Whites first
83 individuals with Treatment 1 and no monetary incentives, order 1, questions on Blacks first
83 individuals with Treatment 1 and no monetary incentives, order 1, questions on Whites first
83 individuals with Treatment 1 and no monetary incentives, order 2, questions on Blacks first
83 individuals with Treatment 1 and no monetary incentives, order 2, questions on Whites first
83 individuals with Treatment 2 and monetary incentives, order 1, questions on Blacks first
83 individuals with Treatment 2 and monetary incentives, order 1, questions on Whites first
83 individuals with Treatment 2 and monetary incentives, order 2, questions on Blacks first
83 individuals with Treatment 2 and monetary incentives, order 2, questions on Whites first
83 individuals with Treatment 2 and no monetary incentives, order 1, questions on Blacks first
83 individuals with Treatment 2 and no monetary incentives, order 1, questions on Whites first
83 individuals with Treatment 2 and no monetary incentives, order 2, questions on Blacks first
83 individuals with Treatment 2 and no monetary incentives, order 2, questions on Whites first
84 control individuals with monetary incentives, order 1, questions on Blacks first
84 control individuals with monetary incentives, order 1, questions on Whites first
84 control individuals with monetary incentives, order 2, questions on Blacks first
84 control individuals with monetary incentives, order 2, questions on Whites first
84 control individuals with no monetary incentives, order 1, questions on Blacks first
84 control individuals with no monetary incentives, order 1, questions on Whites first
84 control individuals with no monetary incentives, order 2, questions on Blacks first
84 control individuals with no monetary incentives, order 2, questions on Whites first

Teenagers:
167 individuals with Treatment 1, order 1, questions on Blacks first
167 individuals with Treatment 1, order 1, questions on Whites first
167 individuals with Treatment 1, order 2, questions on Blacks first
167 individuals with Treatment 1, order 2, questions on Whites first
167 individuals with Treatment 2, order 1, questions on Blacks first
167 individuals with Treatment 2, order 1, questions on Whites first
167 individuals with Treatment 2, order 2, questions on Blacks first
167 individuals with Treatment 2, order 2, questions on Whites first
166 control individuals, order 1, questions on Blacks first
166 control individuals, order 1, questions on Whites first
166 control individuals, order 2, questions on Blacks first
166 control individuals, order 2, questions on Whites first
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
Harvard IRB
IRB Approval Date
2019-04-05
IRB Approval Number
IRB18-1649
IRB Name
Harvard IRB
IRB Approval Date
2020-05-18
IRB Approval Number
IRB18-1747
Analysis Plan

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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