Perceived policy heterogeneity and support for federalism

Last registered on June 04, 2020
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Perceived policy heterogeneity and support for federalism
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0005966
Initial registration date
June 03, 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
June 04, 2020, 2:24 PM EDT

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

Locations

Country
Germany
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Katharina Werner
Affiliation
ifo Institut, Munich
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Philipp Lergetporer
PI Affiliation
ifo Institute, Munich
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Elisabeth Grewenig
PI Affiliation
ifo Institute, Munich
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Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2020-06-03
End date
2021-12-31
Keywords
Education, Other
Additional Keywords
Federalism, heterogeneous preferences, centralization, School policy, Survey Experiment, Germany
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Abstract
In this project, we investigate whether support for federalism depends on people’s perception of policy heterogeneity across states. In particular, we study the decentralization of education policy across states of Germany, focusing on the minimum number of hours students are mandated to attend in primary school. We implement an online-survey experiment among a representative sample of adults aged 18 to 69 years in Germany. Each subject is randomly assigned to one of four experimental groups, and completes three consecutive stages. In stage 1 all respondents are asked to guess how many primary-school hours are mandatory (i) in Germany, (ii) in their state, (iii) in the state with the fewest required hours and (iv) in the state with the most required hours. In stage 2 all respondents state how many hours they think primary school should be mandated to attend on average. In stage 3 a randomly selected group receives information on the mandatory hours of primary students in Germany and in their state. A second group additionally receives information on the mandatory hours in the states with the highest and lowest number of required hours. A third group is identical to group 1, but receives additional information on the mandatory hours in a randomly drawn other state. The fourth group of respondents does not receive any additional information. All respondents then state their support for decentralization of education policy.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Grewenig, Elisabeth, Philipp Lergetporer and Katharina Werner. 2020. "Perceived policy heterogeneity and support for federalism." AEA RCT Registry. June 04. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.5966-1.0
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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Respondents complete a questionnaire on federalism in education policy. Each subject is randomly assigned to one of four experimental groups, and completes three consecutive stages. In stage 1 all respondents are asked to guess how many hours are mandatory (i) in Germany, (ii) in their state, (iii) in the state with the fewest required hours and (iv) in the state with the most required hours. In stage 2 all respondents state how many hours they think primary school should be mandated to attend on average. In stage 3 a randomly selected group receives information on the mandatory hours of primary students in Germany and in their state. Respondents are matched to their state of residence via their postcode, which is elicited earlier in the survey. A second group additionally receives information on the mandatory hours in the states with the highest and lowest number of required hours. A third group is identical to group 1, but receives additional information on the mandatory hours in a randomly drawn other state. The fourth group of respondents does not receive any additional information. All respondents then state their support for decentralization of education policy. The treatment variation allows us to study to what extent beliefs about policy heterogeneity affect support for federalism.
Intervention Start Date
2020-06-03
Intervention End Date
2020-06-17

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Our primary outcomes of interest are respondents’ preferences for federalism elicited in stage 3 of the experiment.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
The experimental design will allow us to test whether information on policy heterogeneity across states in Germany changes respondents’ opinion whether the policy should be decided by the state or should be uniformly set by the federal government.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Misconceptions of respondents related to the policy in their local state and policy heterogeneity across states in Germany (measured by answers given in stage 1) as well as mismatch between state policy and policy preferences aggregated at state level (elicited in stage 2)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)
Prior beliefs about policy allow us to assess to what degree respondents hold misconceptions. By comparing answers between the prior beliefs about the policy and respondents’ policy preferences we test whether respondents expect policy to closer represent their views on the state level. By comparing respondents’ policy preferences aggregated by state and current policy, we document how closely policy preferences match existing rules.
We will also investigate heterogeneity of the main information effect (see Primary Outcomes) by respondents that are better/worse informed and better/worse matched to local policy.

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We conduct the experiment in a sample of 10,000 adults aged between 18 and 69 years. The survey is conducted in cooperation with respondi. The recruitment and polling is managed by respondi, 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 respondi at the individual level, using a computer.

Our experiment is structured as follows:
Treatment 1:
Stage 1: prior beliefs on policy heterogeneity
Stage 2: policy preference
Stage 3: preference for federalism

Treatment 2:
Stage 1: prior beliefs on policy heterogeneity
Stage 2: policy preference
Stage 3: information on policy in Germany and respondents’ state + preference for federalism

Treatment 3:
Stage 1: prior beliefs on policy heterogeneity
Stage 2: policy preference
Stage 3: information on policy in Germany, respondents’ state and the states with the lowest/highest value + preference for federalism

Treatment 4:
Stage 1: prior beliefs on policy heterogeneity
Stage 2: policy preference
Stage 3: information on policy in Germany, respondents’ state and a randomly drawn other state + preference for federalism
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomization is carried out by the survey company respondi, using a computer.
Randomization Unit
at the individual level
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
10,000 adults aged 18-69 years
Sample size: planned number of observations
10,000 adults aged 18-69 years
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
approx. 2,500 will be assigned to each of the Treatment groups
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
IRB Approval Date
IRB Approval Number
Analysis Plan

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