Inter- and Intragenerational Differences in Corrupt Behavior: The Development of Morals after German Reunification

Last registered on December 09, 2020

Pre-Trial

General Information

Title

Different although Equal: An Experimental Investigation of Inter- and Intragenerational Differences in Corrupt Behavior facing Germany's East-West Stigma

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0005397

Initial registration date

February 10, 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

February 10, 2020, 10:49 AM EST

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

Last updated

December 09, 2020, 7:04 AM EST

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

Locations

Country

Germany

Region

North Rhine-Westphalia

Country

Germany

Region

Brandenburg

Primary Investigator

Name

Thorsten Auer

Affiliation

Paderborn University

Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name

Timo Berg

PI Affiliation

BTU Cottbus

Contact Investigator

PI Name

Christin Hoffmann

PI Affiliation

BTU Cottbus

Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status

On going

Start date

2020-12-08

End date

2021-04-30

Keywords

Behavior, Lab, Post-conflict

Additional Keywords

Corruption, Inter- and Intragenerational differences, East and West Germany

JEL code(s)

Secondary IDs

Abstract

30 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Allensbach Institute consulted adolescents between 15 and 24 years in Germany to understand their educational situation, their evaluation of future perspectives, and their attitude towards current social and economic challenges. This survey reports crucial differences between young people in East and West Germany. This result is remarkable considering that this generation grew up in a unified Germany. Nevertheless, the youth seems to be strongly shaped by economic, cultural and social differences that were once established in the divided Germany. These differences may stem from acquired preferences concerning solidarity, state intervention and the distribution of income.
Our goal is to understand if differences revealed in cooperation and solidarity, as well as pro-state attitudes and governmental control are still prevalent among young Germans, who are not directly influenced by two different regimes. Additionally, we want to compare these results with those of older generations, who actually lived under different regimes in one state. We aim to contribute to the literature by playing the bribery game in an experimental setting with groups of different age in East and West Germany.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Auer, Thorsten, Timo Berg and Christin Hoffmann. 2020. "Different although Equal: An Experimental Investigation of Inter- and Intragenerational Differences in Corrupt Behavior facing Germany's East-West Stigma." AEA RCT Registry. December 09. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.5397-2.0

Sponsors & Partners

Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

We play a bribery game with different groups concerning age and origin in Germany. We implement both games in an online environment avoiding a strictly laboratory setting and this way being able to include different groups in their natural environment.

Intervention Start Date

2020-12-08

Intervention End Date

2021-03-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

Bribery Game: Decisions to make a transfer by one player for the acceptance of a reques by the other player. This player decides to accept the transfer first and later the request. They can build a strategy over several rounds for interaction among both players.
Main outcome is the amont of tansfer payments and the rate of acceptance by the other player.

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Differences between generations and origin of people in Germany

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

We intend to contribute to the literature by running an experiment in an online environment. We use ClassEx in order to run the experiments (Giamattei & Lambsdorff, 2019). We aim to collect data for different age groups in East and West Germany.
Regarding the bribery game, pairs will be matched and make concecutive decisions depending on the action of the other player. Decisions will only have an impact on the outcome of the partner.

Experimental Design Details

In the bribery game one player will decide on a transfer amount, while the other player accepts or rejects the offer and consecutively implement a strategy X or Y with different consequences including a drop out lottery for both players when agreeing on a transfer. This procedure will be repeated over 10 rounds.

Randomization Method

Randomization done by the experimental program's algorithm

Randomization Unit

Overall stratified randomization by age and region.
In the game randomization on the individual level.

Was the treatment clustered?

Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

2 * 180 (for the Eastern and Western federal state)

Sample size: planned number of observations

120 students, 120 adults, 120 seniors

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

60 students East Germany, 60 students West Germany, 60 adults East Germany, 60 adults West Germany, 60 seniors East Germany, 60 seniors West Germany

Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)

Supporting Documents and Materials

IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name

Ethics committee of Paderborn University

IRB Approval Date

2020-11-25

IRB Approval Number

N/A

Analysis Plan

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?

Data Collection Complete

Data Publication

Is public data available?

Program Files

Reports, Papers & Other Materials