Can the court bridge the gap? Public perception of economic vs. generational inequality in climate change mitigation policies.

Last registered on November 02, 2022

Pre-Trial

General Information

Title

Economic vs. Generational inequality: An experimental survey experiment of intra- and intergenerational cleavages in support for climate change mitigation policies

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0009745

Initial registration date

July 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

July 19, 2022, 4:30 PM EDT

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

Last updated

November 02, 2022, 12:30 PM EDT

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

Locations

Country

Germany

Region

Primary Investigator

Name

Nanna Lauritz Schönhage

Affiliation

Universität Konstanz

Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name

Luna Bellani

PI Affiliation

Universität Konstanz

Contact Investigator

PI Name

Gabriele Spilker

PI Affiliation

Universität Konstanz

Contact Investigator

PI Name

Theresa Wieland

PI Affiliation

Universität Konstanz

Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status

In development

Start date

2022-11-10

End date

2022-12-05

Keywords

Behavior, Electoral, Environment & Energy

Additional Keywords

inequality, perceptions, climate change, carbon trading

JEL code(s)

Secondary IDs

Prior work

This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.

Abstract

We examine this trade-off between the immediate inequality
citizens face from climate mitigation policies (in terms of carbon trading) vs. the
long-term generational inequalities future generations will face. We assess this trade-
off using a between-subjects survey experiment, fielded among German citizens.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Bellani, Luna et al. 2022. "Economic vs. Generational inequality: An experimental survey experiment of intra- and intergenerational cleavages in support for climate change mitigation policies." AEA RCT Registry. November 02. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.9745-2.1

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

Between-subjects survey experiment with vignettes, in which respondents are primed to consider economic vs. generational inequality concerns relating to climate change mitigation policies.

Intervention Start Date

2022-11-10

Intervention End Date

2022-12-05

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

After the survey experiment, respondents are first asked: ”Do you support such a carbon taxation
policy?”. This is on a Likert-scale from 1 (”Do not agree at all”) to 5 (”Fully agree”). In order
to check whether respondents’ disagreement with the policy might be due to it not aiding enough
in climate change mitigation, we additionally ask respondents: ”Do you think the suggested CO2
taxation is:” with the answer options ”Too high”, ”exactly right”, ”too low”, and lastly ”Don’t
know”

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

We implemented a 2*4 between-subject experiment research design. Each
group of respondents was shown an information treatment consisting of three main parts: 1) an introduction text about a current climate change mitigation policy in Germany, 2) a randomisation into an elite-cue treatment group (vs. control group with no extra information), 3) a randomisation into one of 4 treatment groups (3 inequality treatment groups and one control group).

Experimental Design Details

Randomization Method

Randomisation by computer.

Randomization Unit

Randomization at the individual level.

Was the treatment clustered?

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

Estimated to be 6000 individuals.

Sample size: planned number of observations

6000 individuals.

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

6000 individuals.

Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)

Power analyses based on results from quantitative pretest Hypothesis 1: Respondents are less likely to support the Co2 policy if they receive the economic treatment, as compared to the control group. Alpha = 0.05 Alpha = 0.001 Alpha 0,05 0,001 Power 0,999986 0,997783 N 1500 1500 N1 750 750 N2 750 750 Delta -0,3948 -0,3948 m1 2,952941 2,952941 m2 2,55814 2,55814 Std. Dev. 1 1,318344 1,318344 Std. Dev. 2 1,164218 1,164218 Hypothesis 2: Respondents are more likely to support the Co2 policy if they receive the generational treatment, as compared to the control group. Alpha = 0.05 Alpha = 0.001 Alpha 0,05 0,001 Power 0,200147 0,014756 N 1500 1500 N1 750 750 N2 750 750 Delta -0,07489 -0,07489 m1 2,952941 2,952941 m2 2,878049 2,878049 Std. Dev. 1 1,280865 1,280865 Std. Dev. 2 1,318344 1,318344 Hypothesis 3: Respondents are less likely to support the Co2 policy if they receive the economic treatment, as compared to the economic treatment. Alpha = 0.05 Alpha = 0.001 Alpha 0,05 0,001 Power 0,998728 0,953673 N 1500 1500 N1 750 750 N2 750 750 Delta 0,319909 0,319909 m1 2,55814 2,55814 m2 2,878049 2,878049 Std. Dev. 1 1,164218 1,164218 Std. Dev. 2 1,318344 1,318344 Order effect hypotheses: Hypothesis 4: Respondents are more likely to support the Co2 policy if they receive the generational treatment, as compared to the mixed treatment group. Hypothesis 5: Respondents are less likely to support the Co2 policy if they receive the economic treatment, as compared to the mixed treatment group. Hypothesis 6: There is an order effect in whether respondents see the economic or the generational treatment first. H4 H5 H6 Alpha 0,05 0,05 0,05 Power 0,999867 0,133363 0,051833 N 1500 1500 750 N1 750 750 375 N2 750 750 375 Delta 0,372167 0,052258 -0,01163 m1 2,505882 2,505882 2,511628 m2 2,878049 2,55814 2,5 Std. Dev. 1 1,249986 1,249986 1,241583 Std. Dev. 2 1,318344 1,164218 1,273558 Court treatment hypothesis: Hypothesis 7: Respondents are less likely to support the Co2 policy if they receive the court treatment, as compared to the control group. Alpha = 0.05 Alpha = 0.001 Alpha 0,05 0,001 Power 1 1 N 6000 6000 N1 3000 3000 N2 3000 3000 Delta 0,349827 0,349827 m1 2,54491 2,54491 m2 2,894737 2,894737 Std. Dev. 1 1,240417 1,240417 Std. Dev. 2 1,265156 1,265156

Supporting Documents and Materials

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