AEA RC T Registr y

The American Economic Association's registry for randomized controlled trials

We aim to conduct a set of surveys and a novel decision-making procedure in order to derive insights into views of unrestricted central authority versus political democracy and political freedom held by people of China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan and their diaspora in Canada and the U.S. We are investigating the nature of differences of views on these subjects as they vary by age cohort, education, socioeconomic status, and past political “class background” as that term was understood in China under Mao Zedong, and by region of China or Hong Kong or Taiwan, plus differences in the degree of exposure to life in Canada and the U.S. The project will help social scientists to obtain a better understanding of some factors that may govern whether China will transition from one-party rule to political democracy in the next few decades, a goal frequently expressed by U.S. leaders when adopting an approach of “constructive engagement” in response to China’s post-1978 “reform and opening.” Moreover, it will provide a novel experimental tool that can be used by future researchers to examine preference for democracy in an indirect, incentivized way, which can be a valuable tool in contexts where these issues are politically sensitive.