Attitudes Towards Inherited Inequality II

Last registered on February 08, 2023
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Attitudes Towards Inherited Inequality II
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0009186
Initial registration date
April 14, 2022

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
April 14, 2022, 12:06 PM EDT

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

Last updated
February 08, 2023, 11:20 AM EST

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

Locations

Country
Germany
Region
Country
United States of America
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Timo Freyer
Affiliation
Uni Bonn
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Laurenz Richard Kuno Günther
PI Affiliation
University of Bonn
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2022-04-14
End date
2022-05-14
Keywords
Other
Additional Keywords
Inequality, Redistribution, Fairness
JEL code(s)
D91
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial is based on or builds upon one or more prior RCTs.
Abstract
Inequality is often inherited: individuals are not involved in the process that generates inequality, yet end up with different amounts of resources or opportunities based solely on relations to other people. We have previously conducted an online survey experiment with
a broadly representative sample of the US population to study individuals' redistributive preferences in situations featuring inherited inequality. This first study has been preregistered at the AEA RCT Registry (RCT ID: AEARCTR-0007948) and can be accessed here: https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.7948-1.5000000000000004. We now plan to conduct a second replication study which includes some methodological improvements.
Details presented in the pre-analysis plan.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Freyer, Timo and Laurenz Richard Kuno Günther. 2023. "Attitudes Towards Inherited Inequality II." AEA RCT Registry. February 08. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.9186-1.1
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2022-04-14
Intervention End Date
2022-05-14

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Fraction of inequality in the initial allocation that is equalized
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We conduct an online experiment to investigate attitudes towards inherited inequality among a broadly representative sample of the US population. The experiment builds on the impartial spectator paradigm (Cappelen et al., 2013), where impartial spectators can redistribute money between pairs of participants who received their initial payoffs either based on their relative performance on a real effort task or based on a random draw prior to the redistribution stage. We extend this paradigm by allowing active participants to not only generate a payoff for themselves but also for an associated passive counterpart who inherits a payoff. We are particularly interested in how spectators redistribute between passive participants, and how these decisions relate to spectators' preferences over real-world institutions and policies.

Cappelen, Alexander W., et al. "Just luck: An experimental study of risk-taking and fairness." American Economic Review 103.4 (2013): 1398-1413.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Within-subjects design, any randomization done by a computer in the online survey; details in pre-analysis plan.
Randomization Unit
Individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
We aim at n=550 spectators making redistribution decisions.
Sample size: planned number of observations
550 spectators, 5x4=20 common redistribution decisions per spectator => 11000 redistribution decisions in total.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
We aim at n=550 spectators making redistribution decisions.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials

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IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
IRB Approval Date
IRB Approval Number
Analysis Plan

Analysis Plan Documents

Pre-Analysis Plan

MD5: 7339414ec1eb725c064ce82f322dc0f3

SHA1: aa8e0053d6ff906dc31a44fb6af245c048012384

Uploaded At: April 14, 2022

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
Yes
Intervention Completion Date
May 14, 2022, 12:00 +00:00
Data Collection Complete
Yes
Data Collection Completion Date
May 14, 2022, 12:00 +00:00
Final Sample Size: Number of Clusters (Unit of Randomization)
543 spectators
Was attrition correlated with treatment status?
No
Final Sample Size: Total Number of Observations
13,032 observations/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