Testing for crowd out in social nudges: Evidence from a natural field experiment in the market for electricity

Alec Brandon, John List, Robert Metcalfe (), Michael Price and Florian Rundhammer
Additional contact information
Alec Brandon: Department of Economics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637
Florian Rundhammer: Department of Economics, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA 30302

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2019, vol. 116, issue 12, 5293-5298

Abstract: This study considers the response of household electricity consumption to social nudges during peak load events. Our investigation considers two social nudges. The first targets conservation during peak load events, while the second promotes aggregate conservation. Using data from a natural field experiment with 42,100 households, we find that both social nudges reduce peak load electricity consumption by 2 to 4% when implemented in isolation and by nearly 7% when implemented in combination. These findings suggest an important role for social nudges in the regulation of electricity markets and a limited role for crowd out effects.

Keywords: energy; nudge; experiment; economics; conservation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (23)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Testing for crowd out in social nudges: Evidence from a natural field experiment in the market for electricity (2019)
Working Paper: Testing for crowd out in social nudges: Evidence from a natural field experiment in the market for electricity (2018)
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