Gender Inequality and Policy Preferences

Last registered on January 20, 2025
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Gender Inequality and Policy Preferences
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0008162
Initial registration date
August 28, 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
August 30, 2021, 5:58 PM EDT

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

Last updated
January 20, 2025, 2:40 AM EST

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

Locations

Country
Germany
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Jana Schuetz
Affiliation
Jönköping University, Jönköping International Business School
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Silke Uebelmesser
PI Affiliation
Friedrich Schiller University Jena
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Alessandra Casarico
PI Affiliation
Bocconi University
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Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2021-09-08
End date
2021-11-03
Keywords
Behavior, Gender, Labor, Welfare
Additional Keywords
gender inequality, policy preferences, gender pay gap, gender pension gap, survey experiment
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
Gender gaps in the labour market are widespread and they persist through old-age, with women receiving lower pensions compared to men, and being at higher risk of poverty. Though the policy debate on strengthening female empowerment has gained momentum in the last decade, policy changes have been slow, often focused on compensatory measures, and in disregard of how gender inequality develops over the life cycle. Part of policy inaction can stem from limited information about the extent of gender inequality, the long-term effect of low labour market participation and the persistence of inequality over the life course. It can also depend on different exposure to gender inequality as an individual or different historical experiences as a society.

Through a survey experiment, our goal is to evaluate the effect of information provision regarding the gender pay gap and the gender pension gap on participants' preferences towards labor market and pension reform measures, and on the intertwining between the two. To explore the role of cultural background, we analyze whether the effect of information provision differs when participants receive information on the gaps for East and West Germany, instead of on the gaps for the whole of Germany.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Casarico, Alessandra, Jana Schuetz and Silke Uebelmesser. 2025. "Gender Inequality and Policy Preferences." AEA RCT Registry. January 20. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.8162-1.4
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention (Hidden)
Intervention Start Date
2021-09-08
Intervention End Date
2021-09-24

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Evaluation of policy preferences concerning the German labor market and the German pension system and how they are affected by the provision of relevant information on gender gaps.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Participants of our representative online survey are randomly assigned to any of two control or five treatment groups, which differ with regard to the provided information: gender pay gap (annul income), gender pension gap or both.

There is one bundle of control and treatment groups with a focus on the whole of Germany:
C1: beliefs elicited about both gaps for the whole of Germany
T1a: beliefs elicited about both gaps for the whole of Germany and information provided about the gender pay gap for Germany
T1b: beliefs elicited about both gaps for the whole of Germany and information provided about the gender pension gap for Germany
T1c: beliefs elicited about both gaps for the whole of Germany and information provided about both the gender pay gap and the gender pension gap for Germany

There is another bundle of control and treatment groups with a focus on East and West Germany:
C2: beliefs elicited about both gaps for East and West Germany separately
T2a: beliefs elicited about both gaps for East and West Germany separately, and information provided about the gender pay gap for East and West Germany
T2b: beliefs elicited about both gaps for East and West Germany separately, and information provided about the gender pension gap for East and West Germany

We then aim to investigate whether information provision affects policy preferences towards labor market or pension reform measures. Furthermore, we intend to analyze whether this effect differs when participants receive the gap values for East and West Germany separately, instead of one gap value for Germany.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
randomization done by a computer
Randomization Unit
individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
N/A
Sample size: planned number of observations
7000
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
approximately 1000 individuals for each experimental group
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 of the Faculty of Business and Economics at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena
IRB Approval Date
2021-08-27
IRB Approval Number
N/A
Analysis Plan

Analysis Plan Documents

Pre-Analysis Plan Gender Inequality and Policy Preferences

MD5: f460ea38721b24242536cbf0bb188d67

SHA1: 04e3cdd7b2637a4e7941303cfe15530ae1d8074d

Uploaded At: September 27, 2021

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
Yes
Intervention Completion Date
September 25, 2021, 12:00 +00:00
Data Collection Complete
Yes
Data Collection Completion Date
November 03, 2021, 12:00 +00:00
Final Sample Size: Number of Clusters (Unit of Randomization)
Was attrition correlated with treatment status?
No
Final Sample Size: Total Number of Observations
7017 individuals
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