Your Place in the World - The Demand for National and Global Redistribution

Last registered on September 18, 2020
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Your Place in the World - The Demand for National and Global Redistribution
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0006460
Initial registration date
September 17, 2020
Last updated
September 18, 2020, 10:32 AM EDT

Locations

Country
Germany
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Johanna Mollerstrom
Affiliation
George Mason University
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Ricardo Perez-Truglia
PI Affiliation
UC Berkeley
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PI Name
Dietmar Fehr
PI Affiliation
U Heidelberg
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Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2017-09-01
End date
2018-12-31
Keywords
Behavior, Other
Additional Keywords
inequality, redistribution
JEL code(s)
C83, C91, D63, D72, H23, H24
Secondary IDs
Abstract
Some of today’s most heated policy debates about Brexit, trade wars, climate change abatement, and migration involve redistribution of resources within a given country (national redistribution) and between countries (global redistribution). Nevertheless, theories and evidence on preferences for redistribution have focused almost exclusively on national redistribution. In this paper, we study preferences for global redistribution. The workhorse model in political economy predicts that individuals with incomes in the upper levels of the national income distribution are less supportive of national redistribution than those with incomes in the lower levels. Applied to the global arena, the model predicts that individuals who are richer in the global income distribution will be less supportive of global redistribution. We test this hypothesis using a two-year, face-to-face survey of a representative sample of German households.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Fehr, Dietmar, Johanna Mollerstrom and Ricardo Perez-Truglia. 2020. "Your Place in the World - The Demand for National and Global Redistribution." AEA RCT Registry. September 18. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.6460-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
We designed and conducted a survey experiment to study preferences for global redistribution in the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), a representative longitudinal study of German households. The survey experiment leverages the fact that preferences for redistribution tend to be determined not so much by whether individuals are rich or poor, but whether they perceive themselves to be rich or poor. In the baseline survey, we elicited respondents’ perceptions about their household’s position in the national and global income distributions. We then introduced an information-provision experiment to create exogenous variations in those perceptions. Individuals were randomly assigned to a control group that received no information or to a treatment group that received easy-to-digest information about their true positions in both the national and global income distributions.
Intervention Start Date
2017-09-01
Intervention End Date
2018-12-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
preferences for national redistribution, preferences for global redistribution
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
demand for globalization, demand for immigration, giving in dictator game
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We designed and conducted a survey experiment to study preferences for global redistribution in the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), a representative longitudinal study of German households. The survey experiment leverages the fact that preferences for redistribution tend to be determined not so much by whether individuals are rich or poor, but whether they perceive themselves to be rich or poor. In the baseline survey, we elicited respondents’ perceptions about their household’s position in the national and global income distributions. We then introduced an information-provision experiment to create exogenous variations in those perceptions. Individuals were randomly assigned to a control group that received no information or to a treatment group that received easy-to-digest information about their true positions in both the national and global income distributions.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
randomization done by survey company
Randomization Unit
individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
1400 individuals
Sample size: planned number of observations
1400 individuals
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
700 individuals in information treatment
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