Transporting behavioral insights to low-income household: A field experiment on energy efficiency investmen

Bettina Chlond, Timo Goeschl, Martin Kesternich and Madeline Werthschulte

No 24-079, ZEW Discussion Papers from ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research

Abstract: Many industrialized countries have recognized the need to mitigate energy cost increases faced by low-income households by fostering the adoption of energy-efficient technologies. How to meet this need is an open question, but "behavioral insights" are likely components of future policy designs. Applying well-established behavioral insights to low-income households raises questions of transportability as they are typically underrepresented in the existing evidence base. We illustrate this problem by conducting a randomized field experiment on scalable, low-cost design elements to improve program take-up in one of the world's largest energy efficiency assistance programs. Observing investment decisions of over 1,800 low-income households in Germany's "Refrigerator Replacement Program", we find that the transportability problem is real and consequential: First, the most effective policy design would not have been chosen based on existing behavioral insights. Second, design elements favored by these insights either prove ineffective or even backfire, violating 'do no harm' principles of policy advice. Systematic testing remains crucial for addressing the transportability problem, particularly for policies targeting vulnerable groups.

Keywords: Transportability; low-income households; field experiment; randomized controlled trial; governmental welfare programs; energy efficiency; technology adoption (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C93 D91 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-exp, nep-nud and nep-reg
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:zewdip:312197

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