The Impact of Policy Awareness: Evidence from Vehicle Choices Response to Fiscal Incentives

Last registered on August 07, 2020

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
The Impact of Policy Awareness: Evidence from Vehicle Choices Response to Fiscal Incentives
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0006270
Initial registration date
August 07, 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
August 07, 2020, 2:17 PM EDT

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

Locations

Region

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
ETH Zürich

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Affiliation
ETH Zürich
PI Affiliation
ETH Zürich

Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2019-10-15
End date
2020-11-30
Secondary IDs
Abstract
Isolating the role of limited knowledge, psychological frictions and policy characteristics is key when evaluating a public program and designing future policies. In this study we explore the role of awareness about the presence of fiscal incentives for the purchase of energy efficient vehicles on consumers' vehicle choices.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Cerruti, Davide, Claudio Daminato and Massimo Filippini. 2020. "The Impact of Policy Awareness: Evidence from Vehicle Choices Response to Fiscal Incentives." AEA RCT Registry. August 07. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.6270-1.0
Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
The intervention is an email providing information on the presence or absence of cantonal fiscal incentives for the purchase of energy efficient diesel and gasoline vehicles.
Intervention Start Date
2019-10-15
Intervention End Date
2020-07-02

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
We look at two outcomes of interests 1) Vehicle fuel consumption (liters/100 km) of newly purchased vehicles and 2) Awareness on the presence/absence of cantonal fiscal incentives for energy efficient vehicles at the time the vehicle was purchased
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
Both vehicle fuel consumption and awareness come from the 2020 wave of the Swiss Household Energy Demand Survey (SHEDS). We construct awareness by asking respondents in the treatment and control group about whether they knew, when they bought their current car, if the vehicle registration tax in their canton depended on CO2 emissions and/or the energy label. Three answers are possible 1) Yes, it depended on on CO2 emissions and/or the energy label; 2) No, it did not depend on CO2 emissions and/or the energy label; 3) I don't know. Based on their answer, the year of vehicle purchase and information on cantonal fiscal policies over the years, we define respondents aware if they answered correctly.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The population of interest is composed by individuals who participated to one or more waves of the Swiss Household Energy Demand Survey (SHEDS) between 2016 and 2019. Among those, we randomly assign the participants to the treatment group and the control group. In October 2019, individuals in the treatment group received an email with the informational intervention (see Intervention section). In June 2020 we invited individuals in both treatment and control group to participate to the 2020 wave of SHEDS in which we ask about post-treatment vehicle choices and awareness about the presence of the fiscal incentives.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
We randomized treatment assignment with a computer program.
Randomization Unit
Individual level
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
9141 individuals
Sample size: planned number of observations
9141 individuals
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
4600 individuals in treatment group, 4541 individuals in control group
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
IRB Approval Date
IRB Approval Number

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