Complementarities in Behavioral Interventions: Evidence From a Field Experiment on Energy Conservation

Ximeng Fang (), Lorenz Goette, Bettina Rockenbach, Matthias Sutter, Verena Tiefenbeck, Samuel Schoeb and Thorsten Staake

CRC TR 224 Discussion Paper Series from University of Bonn and University of Mannheim, Germany

Abstract: Behavioral policy often aims at overcoming barriers like imperfect information and limited attention that contribute to suboptimal consumer decisions. When multiple barriers are present, a single intervention that does not overcome all barriers simultaneously may fail to unfold its full potential. We conduct a three-month randomized field experiment on energy conservation in a resource-intensive everyday activity, using two different interventions. Home energy reports fail to reduce energy use despite achieving significant knowledge gains; real-time feedback induces considerable conservation effects. Strikingly, combining both interventions boosts these effects by over 50%. This showcases how barrier multiplicity can generate complementarities in behavioral interventions.

Keywords: behavioral interventions; energy conservation; inattention; real-time feedback; home energy reports; policy interactions; randomized controlled trials (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D12 D83 Q41 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 58
Date: 2020-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ene and nep-exp
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Working Paper: Complementarities in Behavioral Interventions: Evidence From a Field Experiment on Energy Conservation (2020)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bon:boncrc:crctr224_2021_149v2

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