Salience-Driven Decoy Effects in Stopping Problems

Last registered on May 24, 2021
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Salience-Driven Decoy Effects in Stopping Problems
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0007398
Initial registration date
March 21, 2021

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
March 22, 2021, 1:15 PM EDT

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

Last updated
May 24, 2021, 9:48 AM EDT

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

Locations

Country
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Mats Köster
Affiliation
Central European University
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Jonas Frey
PI Affiliation
Said Business School, University of Oxford
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Markus Dertwinkel-Kalt
PI Affiliation
Frankfurt School of Finance and Management
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2021-03-22
End date
2021-04-30
Keywords
Finance & Microfinance
Additional Keywords
Salience, Prospect Theory, Skewness Preferences, Behavioral Stopping
JEL code(s)
D81
Secondary IDs
Abstract
We develop an experimental design to test for decoy effects in optimal stopping problems, as predicted by salience theory of choice under risk (Bordalo et al., 2012). This experiment complements our existing work (Dertwinkel-Kalt et al., 2020) on salience effects in stopping problems. The (non-parametric) salience predictions on decoy effects that we derive (and plan to test) are inconsistent with other prominent models of choice under risk; in particular, (cumulative) prospect theory (Kahneman and Tversky, 1979; Tversky and Kahneman, 1992).
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Dertwinkel-Kalt, Markus, Jonas Frey and Mats Köster. 2021. "Salience-Driven Decoy Effects in Stopping Problems." AEA RCT Registry. May 24. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.7398-2.0
Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Section 5 of the Pre-Analysis Plan describes the experimental design in detail.
Intervention Start Date
2021-03-22
Intervention End Date
2021-04-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
The share of subjects investing in Asset Green (with zero drift).
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
Section 5 of the Pre-Analysis Plan contains a detailed description of the primary outcome.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Section 5 of the Pre-Analysis Plan describes the experimental design in detail.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomization done by a computer.
Randomization Unit
Individual
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
250 individuals
Sample size: planned number of observations
750 investment decisions
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
250 individuals
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Oxford, Said Business School Departmental Research Ethics Committee
IRB Approval Date
2019-10-15
IRB Approval Number
SSH_SBS_C1A_19_64
Analysis Plan

Analysis Plan Documents

Decoy_Prereg.pdf

MD5: 68aa082a6e1c41525711564117e95dcb

SHA1: 163e3fb2941244521b200c7b003ee9675497e0e2

Uploaded At: March 21, 2021

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
Yes
Intervention Completion Date
March 23, 2021, 12:00 +00:00
Data Collection Complete
Yes
Data Collection Completion Date
March 23, 2021, 12:00 +00:00
Final Sample Size: Number of Clusters (Unit of Randomization)
247 individuals
Was attrition correlated with treatment status?
No
Final Sample Size: Total Number of Observations
741 investment decisions
Final Sample Size (or Number of Clusters) by Treatment Arms
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials