Social Learning and Solar Photovoltaic Adoption

Kenneth Gillingham and Bryan Bollinger ()
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Bryan Bollinger: Stern School of Business, New York University, New York, New York 10012

Management Science, 2021, vol. 67, issue 11, 7091-7112

Abstract: Growing literature points to the effectiveness of leveraging social interactions and nudges to spur adoption of prosocial behaviors. This study investigates a large-scale behavioral intervention designed to actively leverage social learning and peer interactions to encourage adoption of residential solar photovoltaic systems. Municipalities choose a solar installer offering group pricing and undertake an informational campaign driven by volunteer ambassadors. We find a causal treatment effect of 37 installations per municipality from the campaigns and no evidence of harvesting or persistence. The intervention also lowers installation prices. Randomized controlled trials based on the intervention show that selection into the program is important, whereas group pricing is not. Our results suggest that the program provided economies of scale and lowered consumer acquisition costs, leading to low-cost emission reductions.

Keywords: nonprice interventions; social learning; renewable energy; solar photovoltaic panels; technology adoption; natural experiment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2020.3840 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: Social Learning and Solar Photovoltaic Adoption (2020)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:67:y:2021:i:11:p:7091-7112

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