Consumers’ Willingness to Pay for a Climate Surcharge in Restaurants to Support a Carbon Emission Reduction Program

Last registered on November 05, 2019

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Consumers’ Willingness to Pay for a Climate Surcharge in Restaurants to Support a Carbon Emission Reduction Program
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0004983
Initial registration date
November 04, 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
November 05, 2019, 9:38 AM EST

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

Locations

Region

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
California State University Long Beach

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Affiliation
University of Arkansas
PI Affiliation
University of Arkansas

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2019-09-11
End date
2019-09-13
Secondary IDs
Abstract
Given the challenges of implementing a nationwide carbon tax policy or a cap-and-trade program in the United States, individuals, business entities, and non-profit organizations have explored other possibilities to lower their carbon emissions. For example, a new program called Restore California offers restaurants the opportunities to opt-in and add an optional percentage charge to every customer bill. The money gathered through the program will then go to farmers who practice sustainable farming that removes carbon from the atmosphere. The goal of this study is to assess the public’s willingness to pay to fund such programs to reduce food and agriculture carbon emissions. In particular, we explore how much people’s willingness to pay is to reduce carbon emission, measured as an optional surcharge of their restaurant check.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Long, Dede, Rodolfo Nayga and Grant West. 2019. "Consumers’ Willingness to Pay for a Climate Surcharge in Restaurants to Support a Carbon Emission Reduction Program." AEA RCT Registry. November 05. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.4983-1.0
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2019-09-11
Intervention End Date
2019-09-12

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Participants' willingness to pay for an optional restaurant surcharge.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Participants will be asked if they are willing to pay for a certain amount of optional restaurant surcharge to support carbon emission reduction (yes or no). If their answer is yes, they will be asked if they are willing to pay for a surcharge that is 1% higher. If their answer is no to the first question, they will be asked if they are willing to pay for a surcharge that is 1% lower.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Participants are randomly selected in the U.S. with characteristics representative of the general adult U.S. population. Participants are randomly assigned to four treatment groups: 1. participants are asked if they are willing to ADD an optional amount of surcharge to their restaurant bill and are required to read a paragraph describing the impact of climate change. 2. participants are asked if they are willing to ADD an optional amount of surcharge and are NOT provided with climate change information. 3. participants are asked if they are willing to REMOVE an optional amount of surcharge and provided with climate change information. 4. participants are asked if they are willing to REMOVE an optional amount of surcharge and NOT provided with climate change information
Randomization Unit
Individuals
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
NA
Sample size: planned number of observations
1000 individuals
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
250 individuals per treatment. A total of 4 treatments.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
We have conducted a power analysis and determined that approximately 200 responses per treatment are needed to achieve 80% power. Our sample size offers us about 95% power.
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
University of Arkansas
IRB Approval Date
2019-09-09
IRB Approval Number
1906201426

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
Yes
Intervention Completion Date
September 12, 2019, 12:00 +00:00
Data Collection Complete
Yes
Data Collection Completion Date
September 13, 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
1171 individuals
Final Sample Size (or Number of Clusters) by Treatment Arms
1171 individuals, 4 treatment, 280 individuals per treatment
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials