Inner Conflict between Nuclear Power Generation and Electricity Rates: A Japanese Case Study

Takanori Ida, Kosuke Takemura and Masayuki Sato ()

Discussion papers from Graduate School of Economics Project Center, Kyoto University

Abstract: Since the March 11 earthquake, Japanese households have been facing a trade-off problem between decreasing dependency on nuclear power generation and avoiding an increase in electricity rates. We analyze this inner conflict quantitatively, adopting two economic-psychological approaches: First, we note that the trade-off causes cognitive dissonance after making a choice that results in a wider desirability gap between the chosen alternative and the rejected alternative. Second, the consumer surplus improves by 11.2% with a no-choice option for suspending judgment in the presence of cognitive dissonance. Third, individual characteristics such as gender and annual household income are significantly correlated with both cognitive dissonance and a preference for the no-choice option.

JEL-codes: D12 D3 L94 Q41 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 30 pages
Date: 2014-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ene
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Related works:
Journal Article: Inner conflict between nuclear power generation and electricity rates: A Japanese case study (2015)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:kue:dpaper:e-14-003

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