Moral utility or Moral Tax? Experimental Study of Electricity Conservation by Social Comparison

Kenta Tanaka, Yukihide Kurakawa, Takunori Ishihara, Ken-Ichi Akao and Takanori Ida

Discussion papers from Graduate School of Economics , Kyoto University

Abstract: For this study, we conducted an artifactual field experiment to investigate the effects of different social comparisons. Although many previous studies have invited residents to be the subjects of laboratory experiments, the subjects’ economic situation has not corresponded to the initial laboratory setting. In our study, we set up experiments based on each subject’s actual electricity usage in daily life. The results show that information about other consumers’ electricity usage increased the electricity conservation behavior of almost all the subjects. In particular, information provision about the electricity use of "efficient" subjects can improve the total welfare of society after psychological factors (moral utility and moral tax) are considered.

Keywords: Electricity Conservation; Behavioral Economics; Artifactual Field Experiment; Social Comparison (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 40
Date: 2020-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ene and nep-exp
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:kue:epaper:e-19-011

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