Abstract
We use an incentivized field experiment to test whether Chinese consumers underinvest in energy efficiency. We document that providing information to Chinese consumers on the energy costs of lightbulbs significantly increases their willingness to pay for energy-efficient bulbs, even among those who previously overestimated the savings from energy efficiency. Our results indicate that Chinese consumers are imperfectly informed, but that neither biased beliefs nor salience can explain their underinvestment in energy efficiency. Rather, we contend that consumers underinvest in energy efficiency because they are uncertain about the savings from energy efficient products.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Article number | 102713 |
| Journal | Journal of Environmental Economics and Management |
| Volume | 115 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Sep 2022 |
Funding
We acknowledge funding from the University of Pittsburgh Social Science Research Initiative . We thank participants at the Association for Environmental and Resource Economists annual meeting and the Advances for Field Experiment Workshop for helpful comments. All errors, omissions, and views are our own. The pre-analysis plan for the experiment was filed in the AEA registry with the ID AEARCTR-0003096. The project was approved by the IRB at the University Pittsburgh on June 29, 2018 with the approval number PRO18050119. We acknowledge funding from the University of Pittsburgh Social Science Research Initiative. We thank participants at the Association for Environmental and Resource Economists annual meeting and the Advances for Field Experiment Workshop for helpful comments. All errors, omissions, and views are our own. The pre-analysis plan for the experiment was filed in the AEA registry with the ID AEARCTR-0003096. The project was approved by the IRB at the University Pittsburgh on June 29, 2018 with the approval number PRO18050119.
Keywords
- Behavioral economics
- China
- Energy consumption
- Energy efficiency
- Energy efficiency gap
- Incentivized choice experiment
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Economics and Econometrics
- Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law