So you want to run an experiment, now what? Some Simple Rules of Thumb for Optimal Experimental Design

List, John A.; Sadoff, Sally; Wagner, Mathis

doi:10.3386/w15701

Cited by 85 publications

(127 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…However, implementing experiments on a large sample, especially with twins, is difficult. Sample size has been a concern, particularly for studies involving controlled experiments (see, e.g., List, Sadoff, andManiadis, Tufano, andList, 2014). For example, List,20 See Li, Liu, and Zhang (2012) for a detailed description of the quality of CATS data.…”

Section: Scientific Validitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Risk Aversion and Son Preference: Experimental Evidence from Chinese Twin Parents

Chew

Zhang

et al. 2018

Management Science

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Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Terms of use: Documents in Risk Aversion and Son Preference: Experimental Evidence from Chinese Twin Parents jANuAry 2017Any opinions expressed in this paper are those of the author(s) and not those of IZA. Research published in this series may include views on policy, but IZA takes no institutional policy positions. The IZA research network is committed to the IZA Guiding Principles of Research Integrity. The IZA Institute of Labor Economics is an independent economic research institute that conducts research in labor economics and offers evidence-based policy advice on labor market issues. Supported by the Deutsche Post Foundation, IZA runs the world's largest network of economists, whose research aims to provide answers to the global labor market challenges of our time. Our key objective is to build bridges between academic research, policymakers and society. IZA Discussion Papers often represent preliminary work and are circulated to encourage discussion. Citation of such a paper should account for its provisional character. A revised version may be available directly from the author. after the birth of their children, parents with sons are more risk seeking, compared to parents with daughters. We adopt a within-twin-pair fixed-effects estimator with a weak identification assumption, which enables us to jointly identify these two effects. We further conduct an incentivized choice experiment to assess parental risk attitude in a sample of Chinese twins with children, and follow up with a second twin sample to examine the replicability of the findings. In both samples, we find that parents with greater risk aversion before the birth of their children are more likely to have sons through sex selection than parents with less risk aversion. Additionally, having sons significantly decreases parental risk aversion. These results contribute to the literature on the sources of son preference and help shed light on the nature of gender inequality. JEL Classification:C93, D01, D80, J13

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Section: Scientific Validitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Risk Aversion and Son Preference: Experimental Evidence from Chinese Twin Parents

Chew

Zhang

et al. 2018

Management Science

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“…Within each of these bins, individuals were randomly assigned to treatment conditions. This type of stratified random assignment algorithm (or randomization within blocks) ensures balanced samples across experimental conditions along the dimensions of stratification and typically decreases variance in estimated treatment effects (List et al 2010). 4 We worked with undergraduate research assistants to develop nonacademic language that would resonate with participants and encourage them to select stimuli that met the criteria of theoretical interest in this research.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Holding the Hunger Games Hostage at the Gym: An Evaluation of Temptation Bundling

Milkman¹,

Volpp²

2013

PsycEXTRA Dataset

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W e introduce and evaluate the effectiveness of temptation bundling-a method for simultaneously tackling two types of self-control problems by harnessing consumption complementarities. We describe a field experiment measuring the impact of bundling instantly gratifying but guilt-inducing "want" experiences (enjoying page-turner audiobooks) with valuable "should" behaviors providing delayed rewards (exercising). We explore whether such bundles increase should behaviors and whether people would pay to create these restrictive bundles. Participants were randomly assigned to a full treatment condition with gym-only access to tempting audio novels, an intermediate treatment involving encouragement to restrict audiobook enjoyment to the gym, or a control condition. Initially, full and intermediate treatment participants visited the gym 51% and 29% more frequently, respectively, than control participants, but treatment effects declined over time (particularly following Thanksgiving). After the study, 61% of participants opted to pay to have gym-only access to iPods containing tempting audiobooks, suggesting demand for this commitment device.

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“…4 Such a factorial design (List et al, 2010), in which the sample is split evenly between the treatment and the control group, is ideally suited for cases where the variance of the outcome (in this case, the variance of the various welfare measures) is constant across the treatment and the control group, which is unfortunately not the case in this context.…”

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confidence: 99%

As You Sow, So Shall You Reap: The Welfare Impacts of Contract Farming

Bellemare

2010

SSRN Journal

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What is the impact of participation in commodity chains on producer welfare? Contract farming -wherein a processing firm delegates its production of agricultural commodities to growers -is often viewed as a means of increasing grower welfare in developing countries. Because the nonrandom participation of growers in contract farming has so far not been dealt with convincingly, whether participation in contract farming increases welfare is up for debate. This paper uses the results of a contingent valuation experiment to estimate willingness to pay to enter contract farming, which is then used to control for actual participation in contract farming. Using data from Madagascar, results indicate that contract farming entails a 12-to 18-percent increase in income; a 16-percent decrease in income volatility; a two-month decrease in the duration of the hungry season; and a 30-percent increase in the likelihood that a household receives a formal loan.

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So you want to run an experiment, now what? Some Simple Rules of Thumb for Optimal Experimental Design

Cited by 85 publications

References 18 publications

Risk Aversion and Son Preference: Experimental Evidence from Chinese Twin Parents

Risk Aversion and Son Preference: Experimental Evidence from Chinese Twin Parents

Holding the Hunger Games Hostage at the Gym: An Evaluation of Temptation Bundling

As You Sow, So Shall You Reap: The Welfare Impacts of Contract Farming

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