Educational inequality, beliefs about luck vs effort, and the demand for redistribution – Representative evidence from survey experiments

For the purpose of our paper, we define educational inequality in Germany as the association between parents’ socioeconomic status and the share of children attending Gymnasium (the highest/academic track in the German schooling system). Specifically, we randomly assign all respondents to a control group or to one of two treatment groups. The first treatment group receives information about the unconditional gap in Gymnasium attendance of 15-years olds by their parents’ socioeconomic status. The second treatment group additionally receives information about the SES gap in Gymnasium attendance of 15-years olds, conditional on the students’ achievement in the PISA test. The control group does not receive any information.
Specifically, respondents in the treatment group will be (i) asked about their perceptions of the SES gap in Gymnasium attendance , (ii) informed about the actual SES gap in Gymnasium attendance (according to their treatment assignment (group 1 and group 2), (iii) asked about their perceptions of whether it is mainly luck or effort that determines a high educational qualification and high income, respectively, (iv) asked about their preferences towards equity-enhancing educational policies and finally (v) given the opportunity to donate money to charities, supporting educational equality. Respondents in the control group answer the same questions, but without receiving information about the SES gap in Gymnasium attendance (i.e., without stage (ii)).

2019-05-06

2019-06-13

Our primary outcomes are(i) respondents’ perceptions of whether it is mainly luck or effort that determines a high educational qualification and high income, respectively, (ii) the respondents’ preferences towards equity-enhancing educational policies and (iii) the respondents actual donations to charities, supporting educational equality.

The outcome question on the perception of luck vs effort is worded as follows:
“Some say that success in life primarily depends on personal effort. Others say that success in life primarily depends on external circumstances beyond someone's control. What do you think determines whether one achieves the following in life? (1)… a high educational attainment; (2)… high income“
Answers to this question can be given on an 4-point scale labelled “mostly personal effort”, “rather personal effort”, “rather external circumstances”, “mostly external circumstances”.

The outcome question on preferences towards equity-enhancing educational policies is worded as follows:
“Do you favor or oppose to spend more governmental resources on children from worse-off families to increase equality of opportunities? Please keep in mind that additional spending is often financed by taxes.”
Answers to this question can be given on a 5-point scale labelled “strongly favor” “somewhat favor” “neither favour nor oppose” “somewhat oppose” “strongly oppose”.

The outcome question on charity donations is worded as follows:
“For this question you will receive a bonus of 80 Lifepoints in addition to the Lifepoints you receive for participating in this survey*.
You receive the opportunity to donate these Lifepoints to two charities. Both charities support, among other things, better opportunities for children from disadvantaged families in Germany. The monetary value of the Lifepoints donated by you is transferred to the charitable foundations. The Lifepoints that have not been donated will be credited to your account after the survey has been completed”

To answer this question, respondents can first indicate how many of the 80 Lifepoints they would like to donate in an open field.

Subsequently, respondents can choose whether they would like to donate to (i) Deutsches Kinderhilfswerk e.V., to (ii) Die Chancenstiftung or to (iii) equally share their lifepoints between both charities.

Respondents can also click on an information button to learn more about the charities.
[Text appearing if clicked:] “The Deutsche Kinderhilfswerk is committed to a child-friendly Germany. Your donation is used for the "Chancengerechter Bildungsstart" project, which, for example, provides children from low-income families with school materials. The Chancenstiftung foundation awards scholarships to children and adolescents from low-income families. The scholarship holders receive professional tutoring.”

*”Lifepoints” are the Experimental Currency Units

After eliciting the main outcome variables mentioned above, we further elicit respondents’ subjective assessment of the importance of several aspects for the transition from primary school to Gymnasium.

We further plan to perform heterogeneity analyses with respect to (i)respondents’ prior beliefs about the unconditional SES gap in Gymnasium attendance, (ii) respondents’ own educational attainment and, (iii) respondents’ trust in government.

The question on the subjective assessment of the importance of several aspects for the school transition is worded as follows:
“In your opinion, how important are the following aspects for students to switch to a Gymnasium after primary school?
- Effort and diligence of students
- Talent of students
- Preferences of students and parents
- Financial means of parents
- Educational level of parents”

Answers to all items can be given on a 5-point scale labelled “very important” “rather important” “neither nor” “rather unimportant” “very unimportant”.

In case we do not find treatment effects on the importance of the above-mentioned e aspects, we plan to explore effect heterogeneities on the primary outcomes variables with respect to the answers provided in this question.

We conduct the experiment in a sample of 4,000 adults aged 18 years and older. The survey is conducted in cooperation with a renowned German survey institute, KANTAR Public. The recruitment and polling is managed by KANTAR Public, who collect the data via an online platform. That is, our participants answer the survey questions autonomously on their own digital devices. Randomization is carried out by KANTAR Public at the individual level, using a computer.

Our experiment is structured as follows:
Respondents will be randomly assigned (between subject) to treatment 1 (p=1/3), treatment 2 (p=1/3) or the control group (p=1/3).

Sequence of events in the treatment group 1:
1. Belief elicitation about the unconditional SES gap in Gymnasium attendance
2. Information provision (unconditional SES gap in Gymnasium attendance)
3. Elicitation of perceptions of whether it is mainly luck or effort that determines economic/educational success
4. Elicitation of preferences towards equity-enhancing education policies
5. Elicitation of donations to charities, support educational equality
6. Elicitation of respondents’ subjective assessment of the importance of several aspects for the transition from primary school to Gymnasium

Sequence of events in the treatment group 2:
1. Belief elicitation about the unconditional SES gap in Gymnasium attendance
2. Information provision (unconditional and conditional SES gap in Gymnasium attendance)
3. Elicitation of perceptions of whether it is mainly luck or effort that determines economic/educational success
4. Elicitation of preferences towards equity-enhancing education policies
5. Elicitation of donations to charities, support educational equality
6. Elicitation of respondents’ subjective assessment of the importance of several aspects for the transition from primary school to Gymnasium

Sequence of events in the control group:
1. Belief elicitation about the unconditional SES gap in Gymnasium attendance
2. Elicitation of perceptions of whether it is mainly luck or effort that determines economic/educational success
3. Elicitation of preferences towards equity-enhancing education policies
4. Elicitation of donations to charities, support educational equality
5. Elicitation of respondents’ subjective assessment of the importance of several aspects for the transition from primary school to Gymnasium

In addition to the main survey, we plan to conduct a follow-up survey about two weeks after main survey completion. In the follow-up survey, all respondents from the main survey will be invited to participate a second time. To investigate treatment effect persistence, all respondents will be asked (i) to state their beliefs about the unconditional SES gap in Gymnasium attendance and (ii)to answer the control group versions of selected outcome questions (i.e. without the information intervention).
The sequence for the follow-up survey (same for all experimental groups):
1. Belief elicitation about the unconditional SES gap in Gymnasium attendance
2. Elicitation of perceptions of whether it is mainly luck or effort that determines economic/educational success
3. Elicitation of preferences towards equity-enhancing education policies
4. Elicitation of respondents’ subjective assessment of the importance of several aspects for the transition from primary school to Gymnasium

Randomization is carried out by the survey company KANTAR Public, using a computer.

at the individual level

No

4,000

4,000

4,000, 1/3 (app. 1333) will be assigned to each of the three experimental groups.