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Information-Consumption Substitutes

Last registered on May 13, 2019
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Information-Consumption Substitutes
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0004181
Initial registration date
May 07, 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 13, 2019, 11:49 PM EDT

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

Locations

Country
United States of America
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Jin Xu
Affiliation
Claremont Graduate University
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Monica Capra
PI Affiliation
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Joshua Tasoff
PI Affiliation
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2019-01-14
End date
2019-09-30
Keywords
Other
Additional Keywords
Anticipatory Utility, Information Preferences
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Abstract
This study tests the idea that current consumption is a substitute for information about aversive future events. That is, the more we enjoy the present the less willing we are to learn about negative future experiences. We also hypothesize that receiving information about aversive future events increases the demand for immediate pleasurable consumption. We propose to run two separate experiments focused on these two different by related questions, using ice cream as the immediate consumption and the chance of mildly painful electric shocks as the aversive future event.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Capra, Monica, Joshua Tasoff and Jin Xu. 2019. "Information-Consumption Substitutes." AEA RCT Registry. May 13. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.4181-1.0
Former Citation
Capra, Monica, Joshua Tasoff and Jin Xu. 2019. "Information-Consumption Substitutes." AEA RCT Registry. May 13. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/4181/history/46466
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2019-01-14
Intervention End Date
2019-09-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Information preference (Room choice);
Valuation to avoid electric shocks;
Willingness-to-pay for items
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Experiment1 investigates the effect of current consumption on the demand for information about a potentially negative outcome. The information is a signal that is correlated with the outcome. The current consumption is ice-cream or no ice cream. Subjects are randomly assigned into one of two groups: the treatment group (receiving ice-cream) and the control group (no ice cream). Subjects are asked to choose whether to receive information about the possible shocks.

Experiment2 investigates the effect of aversive salient information on consumption. Subjects are randomly assigned to the control group with no information or the treatment group with information. The procedures of these two groups are identical, except that the information group gets a clue about the possibility of future shocks. We then wish to observe how this salient information affects the demand for full information, ice cream, distractors, and a shock block.

Please see pre-analysis plan for details.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Whether the subject will be assigned to treatment group will be decided by a randomizer generated by Qualtrics prior to the commencement of each session.
Randomization Unit
Randomization will be carried out at individual level
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
Subjects are not clustered in our study.
Sample size: planned number of observations
240 in total.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
We have 4 conditions in our experiment, each with 60 subjects.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Information-Consumption Substitutes
IRB Approval Date
2019-02-21
IRB Approval Number
3377
Analysis Plan

Analysis Plan Documents

Pre-Analysis+Plan2.pdf

MD5: 71ae8a44de239e6ca4e32f0da3d673b8

SHA1: f4230039992066d03ea313a405b8e1feb0c1f987

Uploaded At: May 07, 2019

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