Cheap Talk Scripts and Online Choice Experiments: “Looking Beyond the Mean”

This paper presents the first known assessment of cheap talk effectiveness in a choice experiment conducted online with a focus on the distinction between impacts on stated willingness to pay at the population mean and in targeted sub‐samples. Utilizing a large national survey and split‐sample experimental design, we find cheap talk scripts may not only influence the level of willingness to pay estimated for representative consumers, but also may produce more reliable estimates. The magnitude of the impact that cheap talk has on willingness to pay is found to depend on the evaluated respondent sub‐sample.

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