What works best in promoting climate citizenship? A randomised, systematic evaluation of nudge, think, boost and nudge+

Sanchayan Banerjee, Matteo Galizzi, Peter John and Susana Mourato

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: Nudges have been increasingly deployed to deliver climate policies in the last decade. Recent evidence shows nudges are hard to scale–up. So can we use nudges more effectively, or should we rely on other tools of behaviour change? We argue that reflective strategies can enhance nudges by encouraging agency and ownership in citizens. We test this by systematically comparing nudges to reflective interventions like thinks, boosts, and nudge+ over orders of low-carbon meals using an online experiment with 3,074 participants in the United Kingdom. We find all behavioural interventions increase intentions for climate-friendly diets, but encouraging reflection prior to nudging (“nudge+”) strengthens these treatment effects. There is no evidence of negative behavioural spillovers as measured by participants’ donations to pro-social charities. There is potential for reflective policies in promoting climate citizenship.

Keywords: nudge; think; boost; nudge+; climate-friendly diets; climate citizenship; Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science; Department of Political Economy; Department of Geography and Environment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C90 D91 I12 Q18 Q58 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 23 pages
Date: 2022-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-cbe, nep-ene, nep-env and nep-exp
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ehl:lserod:115032

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