DDRIG in DRMS: Policy Interactions and Consumer Decision-making in the Market for Energy-Efficient Products.

DRMS 中的 DDRIG：节能产品市场中的政策互动和消费者决策。

• 批准号: 2149435
• 负责人: David Just
• 金额: $ 4万
• 依托单位: Cornell University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-02-01 至 2025-01-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2149435&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: DDRIG; DRMS; Policy; Interactions; Consumer

Information provision and financial incentives are important components of energy efficiency policy. The former addresses the failure of the market to provide complete information on the costs and benefits of purchasing energy-efficient products, while the latter addresses the fact that consumers do not capture the full social value of environmental goods and services. Using insights from economics and psychology, this research seeks to understand why programs using information provision and financial incentives as tools have been unable to close the “energy efficiency gap,” the gap between actual and desired adoption of energy-efficient technology, among households in the United States. This research develops interventions that provide information on the cost-savings and emissions benefits of purchasing an energy-efficient product, discounts on that same product, or both, and dissects the behavioral effects of those interventions. As a result, this work has the following broader impacts: improved societal welfare through energy use reduction, which saves consumers money and mitigates anthropogenic climate change; and promotion of the progress of science through an enhanced grasp on the drivers of, and obstacles to scientific literacy.This research investigates two explanations for the energy efficiency gap: 1) the possibility of policy interactions when multiple policy instruments are simultaneously used; and 2) the possibility that policy choice not only impacts the final choices people make but also the process through which people make choices. These explanations lead to a theoretically motivated research design that consists of an online survey-experiment in which respondents are randomized into different treatments that vary the information and incentives representing different policy mixes. Respondents’ demand for an energy-efficient product is elicited, and other data on their decision-making and predictors of their decision-making are collected, including data on their demographic, behavioral, cognitive, and attitudinal characteristics. Survey responses are linked to actual purchase decisions to incentivize the realism of respondents’ choices. Results give insights into interventions leading to increase in demand for an energy-efficient product. Interventions include interactions between information and incentives, such as whether information on the emissions impact of purchasing energy-efficient products can effectively supplement cost information, and whether prompting respondents to deliberate over their preferences can increase demand for energy efficiency. By exploring different policy options and potential behavioral mechanisms behind policy responses, this project informs policy design. It also advances guidance on policy implementation and contributes to a deeper understanding of consumer decision-making as affected by policies.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

信息提供和财政激励是能源效率政策的重要组成部分。前者解决了市场未能提供有关购买节能产品的成本和收益的完整信息的问题，而后者则解决了消费者没有充分认识到环境商品和服务的社会价值的问题。这项研究利用经济学和心理学的见解，试图了解为什么使用信息提供和经济激励作为工具的计划无法缩小“能源效率差距”，即美国家庭实际采用节能技术与期望采用节能技术之间的差距。这项研究开发了干预措施，提供有关购买节能产品的成本节约和排放效益、同一产品的折扣或两者的信息，并剖析了这些干预措施的行为影响。因此，这项工作具有以下更广泛的影响：通过减少能源使用改善社会福利，从而为消费者节省金钱并减轻人为气候变化；本研究探讨了能源效率差距的两种解释：1）同时使用多种政策工具时政策互动的可能性； 2）政策选择不仅影响人们最终的选择，而且影响人们做出选择的过程。这些解释导致了一种具有理论动机的研究设计，该设计包括在线调查实验，其中受访者被随机分配到不同的处理方法中，这些处理方法改变了代表不同政策组合的信息和激励措施。引出受访者对节能产品的需求，并收集有关其决策和决策预测因素的其他数据，包括有关其人口统计、行为、认知和态度特征的数据。调查回复与实际购买决策相关，以激励受访者选择的现实性。结果提供了对导致节能产品需求增加的干预措施的见解。干预措施包括信息与激励之间的互动，例如有关购买节能产品的排放影响的信息是否可以有效补充成本信息，以及促使受访者仔细考虑自己的偏好是否可以增加对能源效率的需求。通过探索不同的政策选择和政策反应背后的潜在行为机制，该项目为政策设计提供信息。它还推进了政策实施的指导，并有助于更深入地了解受政策影响的消费者决策。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。