The DOI matches its Crossref record; 98 of the 104 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Social norms and energy conservation
Abstract
This paper evaluates a series of programs run by a company called OPOWER to send Home Energy Report letters to residential utility customers comparing their electricity use to that of their neighbors. Using data from randomized natural field experiments at 600,000 treatment and control households across the United States, I estimate that the average program reduces energy consumption by 2.0%. The program provides additional evidence that non-price interventions can substantially and cost effectively change consumer behavior: the effect is equivalent to that of a short-run electricity price increase of 11 to 20%, and the cost effectiveness compares favorably to that of traditional energy conservation programs. Perhaps because the treatment included descriptive social norms, effects are heterogeneous: households in the highest decile of pre-treatment consumption decrease usage by 6.3%, while consumption by the lowest decile decreases by only 0.3%. A regression discontinuity design shows that different categories of “injunctive norms” played an insignificant role in encouraging relatively low users not to increase usage.
Overview
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In the citing paper
“A large meta-analysis found that significant residential energy savings can be achieved [215], by targeting the right interventions to the right households [14,16,17].”
From Tackling climate change with machine learning (2023) · cites this paper as [16]
Citations
Cites
Axelrod, R., & Hamilton, W. D. (1981) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.7466396 · Cited by 20,065
How Much Should We Trust Differences-in-Differences Estimates?
Bertrand, M., Duflo, E., & Mullainathan, S. (2004) · The Quarterly Journal of Economics · doi:10.1162/003355304772839588 · Cited by 10,641
A Theory of the Allocation of Time
Becker, G. S. (1965) · The Economic Journal · doi:10.2307/2228949 · Cited by 10,354
Estimating causal effects of treatments in randomized and nonrandomized studies
Rubin, D. B. (1974) · Journal of Educational Psychology · doi:10.1037/h0037350 · Cited by 9,436 · cited 2×
“Nearly all are within the confidence intervals of the small sample pilots by Schultz et al. (2007) and Nolan et al.”
BackgroundA Simple Model of Herd Behavior
Banerjee, A. V. (1992) · The Quarterly Journal of Economics · doi:10.2307/2118364 · Cited by 6,556 · cited 1×
“[15] Banerjee, Abhijit (1992).”
Cialdini, R. B., Reno, R. R., & Kallgren, C. A. (1990) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.58.6.1015 · Cited by 5,965 · cited 2×
“[32] Cialdini, Robert, Raymond Reno, and Carl Kallgren (1990).”
BackgroundAkerlof, G., & Kranton, R. (2000) · The Quarterly Journal of Economics · doi:10.1162/003355300554881 · Cited by 5,824 · cited 1×
“[5] Akerlof, George, and Rachel Kranton (2000).”
Recent Developments in the Econometrics of Program Evaluation
Imbens, G. W., & Wooldridge, J. M. (2009) · Journal of Economic Literature · doi:10.1257/jel.47.1.5 · Cited by 4,926
Regression discontinuity designs in economics
Lee, D. S., & Lemieux, T. (2010) · Journal of Economic Literature · doi:10.1257/jel.48.2.281 · Cited by 4,534
Regression discontinuity designs: A guide to practice
Imbens, G. W., & Lemieux, T. (2007) · Journal of Econometrics · doi:10.1016/j.jeconom.2007.05.001 · Cited by 3,701
Research works printed but not linked: 2
- Friedrich, 2009, Saving Energy Cost-Effectively: A National Review of the Cost of Energy Saved through Utility-Sector Energy Efficiency Programs
- Lalonde, 1986, Evaluating the Econometric Evaluations of Training Programs, American Economic Review, 76, 604
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Recent Developments in the Econometrics of Program Evaluation
Imbens, G. W., & Wooldridge, J. M. (2009) · Journal of Economic Literature · doi:10.1257/jel.47.1.5 · Cited by 4,926
Learning about a New Technology: Pineapple in Ghana
Conley, T. G., & Udry, C. R. (2010) · American Economic Review · doi:10.1257/aer.100.1.35 · Cited by 2,180
Allcott, H., & Rogers, T. (2014) · American Economic Review · doi:10.1257/aer.104.10.3003 · Cited by 1,340
“ = ¬ + + (1)(1) + + 1M + 2M + Y + + (3)”
InfluentialSelf-citationDessart, F. J., Barreiro‐Hurlé, J., & van Bavel, R. (2019) · European Review of Agricultural Economics · doi:10.1093/erae/jbz019 · Cited by 1,225
Financial well-being: A conceptualization and research agenda
Brüggen, E. C., Hogreve, J., Holmlund, M., Kabadayi, S., & Löfgren, M. (2017) · Journal of Business Research · doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2017.03.013 · Cited by 1,267
Social Norms and Pro-environmental Behavior: A Review of the Evidence
Farrow, K., Grolleau, G., & Ibanez, L. (2017) · Ecological Economics · doi:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2017.04.017 · Cited by 1,062
“” As in Akerlof and Kranton (2000) social norms manifest in this model by influencing the material and affective payoffs associated with conformity. In a model that deals more explicitly with social norms, Bénabou and Tirole (2012) conceive of behavior as a function of three main factors: anticipated reputational effe…”
BackgroundInfluentialFrederiks, E. R., Stenner, K., & Hobman, E. V. (2014) · Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.rser.2014.09.026 · Cited by 1,036
“, a smiley-face emoticon, to serve as positive reinforcement) with the descriptive norm message to prevent a ‘boomerang effect’, where those who learn they have been under-estimating the prevalence of an undesired behaviour may then increase that undesired behaviour (for examples in the residential energy domain, see…”
BackgroundIs There an Energy Efficiency Gap?
Allcott, H., & Greenstone, M. (2012) · The Journal of Economic Perspectives · doi:10.1257/jep.26.1.3 · Cited by 1,018
Self-citationInfluencing behaviour: The mindspace way
Dolan, P., Hallsworth, M., Halpern, D., King, D., Metcalfe, R., & Vlaev, I. (2011) · Journal of Economic Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.joep.2011.10.009 · Cited by 931
Norm Perception as a Vehicle for Social Change
Tankard, M. E., & Paluck, E. L. (2016) · Social Issues and Policy Review · doi:10.1111/sipr.12022 · Cited by 883
“A number of large-scale randomized controlled trials find that this normative information motivates individuals to decrease their electricity consumption so as to meet normative standards (Allcott, 2011; Costa & Kahn, 2013; Schultz, Nolan, Cialdini, Goldstein, & Griskevicius, 2007).”
BackgroundInfluentialShould Governments Invest More in Nudging?
Benartzi, S., Beshears, J. L., Milkman, K. L., Sunstein, C. R., Thaler, R. H., Shankar, M. U., Tucker-Ray, W., Congdon, W. J., & Galing, S. (2017) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/0956797617702501 · Cited by 946
“Authors Treatment Impact Cost Relative effectiveness Allcott (2011) An independent company sent reports to residential consumers that contained both comparisons to neighbors’ electricity usage and tips for conservation 2.0 percent reduction in energy usage on averagea Approximately $1 per report,…”
InfluentialThe behavioralist as tax collector: Using natural field experiments to enhance tax compliance
Hallsworth, M., List, J. A., Metcalfe, R. D., & Vlaev, I. (2017) · Journal of Public Economics · doi:10.1016/j.jpubeco.2017.02.003 · Cited by 764
Mertens, S., Herberz, M., Hahnel, U. J. J., & Brosch, T. (2021) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.2107346118 · Cited by 864
“In a natural field experiment with more than 600,000 US households, for instance, Allcott (18) demonstrated the effectiveness of descriptive social norms in promoting energy conservation.”
BackgroundInfluentialDelmas, M. A., Fischlein, M., & Asensio, O. I. (2013) · Energy Policy · doi:10.1016/j.enpol.2013.05.109 · Cited by 672
“Recognizing the importance of social and psychological aspects, a number of studies on energy use behavior have made use of comparative feedback (Alcott, 2011; Schultz et al., 2007).”
Costa, D. L., & Kahn, M. E. (2013) · Journal of the European Economic Association · doi:10.1111/jeea.12011 · Cited by 657
“Speech of June 13, 2008. http://www.aletmanski.com/files/davidcameron-powerofsocial-innovation.doc likely to engage in “voluntary restraint” than the average person (Kotchen and Moore 2008).”
Bridging the Energy Efficiency Gap: Policy Insights from Economic Theory and Empirical Evidence
Gillingham, K. T., & Palmer, K. (2014) · Review of Environmental Economics and Policy · doi:10.1093/reep/ret021 · Cited by 701
Dynamic Norms Promote Sustainable Behavior, Even if It Is Counternormative
Sparkman, G., & Walton, G. M. (2017) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/0956797617719950 · Cited by 639
“An important question in water conservation and many other sustainability contexts involves the degree to which behavior change persists or tapers off with time (see Allcott, 2011; Kenthirarajah & Walton, 2015).”
BackgroundWise interventions: Psychological remedies for social and personal problems.
Walton, G. M., & Wilson, T. D. (2018) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/rev0000115 · Cited by 617
Using Nonpecuniary Strategies to Influence Behavior: Evidence from a Large-Scale Field Experiment
Ferraro, P. J., & Price, M. (2013) · The Review of Economics and Statistics · doi:10.1162/rest_a_00344 · Cited by 631
Residential energy use and conservation: Economics and demographics
Brounen, D., Kok, N., & Quigley, J. M. (2012) · European Economic Review · doi:10.1016/j.euroecorev.2012.02.007 · Cited by 630
“…this into perspective: recent experiments with Home Energy Reports in the US – providing households information on their past energy consumption as compared to their neighbors and providing energy conservation suggestions – achieve comparable energy reductions, about two percent (Allcott, 2009).”
BackgroundChanging climates of conflict: A social network experiment in 56 schools
Paluck, E. L., Shepherd, H., & Aronow, P. M. (2016) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1514483113 · Cited by 610
(2014) · Econometrica · doi:10.3982/ecta11991 · Cited by 586
Knowledge is (Less) Power: Experimental Evidence from Residential Energy Use
Jessoe, K., & Rapson, D. S. (2014) · American Economic Review · doi:10.1257/aer.104.4.1417 · Cited by 550
“g∈{P+I} βgD g it ∗Ait + γi + δd + σhw + μit (2)”
Designing Information Provision Experiments
Haaland, I., Roth, C., & Wohlfart, J. (2023) · Journal of Economic Literature · doi:10.1257/jel.20211658 · Cited by 577
Ayres, I., Raseman, S., & Shih, A. (2012) · The Journal of Law Economics and Organization · doi:10.1093/jleo/ews020 · Cited by 550
Hummel, D., & Maedche, A. (2019) · Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics · doi:10.1016/j.socec.2019.03.005 · Cited by 558
Behavioural science is unlikely to change the world without a heterogeneity revolution
Bryan, C. J., Tipton, E., & Yeager, D. S. (2021) · Nature Human Behaviour · doi:10.1038/s41562-021-01143-3 · Cited by 599
Changing Norms to Change Behavior
Miller, D. T., & Prentice, D. A. (2015) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev-psych-010814-015013 · Cited by 582
Gender norms and social norms: differences, similarities and why they matter in prevention science
Cislaghi, B., & Heise, L. (2019) · Sociology of Health & Illness · doi:10.1111/1467-9566.13008 · Cited by 697
“…given feedback on how their behaviour compared to that of their peers or neighbours (used, for instance, to reduce their home energy consumption (Allcott 2011)); (ii) social norms marketing, where individuals are exposed to messages that suggest that most people around them engage in a positive…”
BackgroundUsing implementation intentions prompts to enhance influenza vaccination rates
Milkman, K. L., Beshears, J. L., Choi, J. J., Laibson, D., & Madrian, B. C. (2011) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1103170108 · Cited by 500
“Providing information on social norms has been used to reduce household energy consumption (14, 15).”
Understanding the human dimensions of a sustainable energy transition
Steg, L., Perlaviciute, G., & van der Werff, E. (2015) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00805 · Cited by 544
“…(Smith et al., 1994; Pelletier et al., 1998; Steg, 2005; Carrus et al., 2008; Gatersleben and Steg, 2012), and when they expect that others would approve of it (Harland et al., 1999; Nolan et al., 2008), and when receive information on the sustainable energy behaviours of others (Allcott, 2011).”
BackgroundTiefenbeck, V., Staake, T., Roth, K. W., & Sachs, O. (2013) · Energy Policy · doi:10.1016/j.enpol.2013.01.021 · Cited by 526
“These programs typically yield savings on the order of 2–5% across the population in the targeted area of utility consumption, equivalent to the effect of a price increase of 11–20% (Allcott, 2011).”
BackgroundInfluentialBehavioral Economics and Public Policy: A Pragmatic Perspective
Chetty, R. (2015) · American Economic Review · doi:10.1257/aer.p20151108 · Cited by 491
If you build it, will they eat it? Consumer preferences for plant-based and cultured meat burgers
Slade, P. (2018) · Appetite · doi:10.1016/j.appet.2018.02.030 · Cited by 504
The Effect of Providing Peer Information on Retirement Savings Decisions
Beshears, J. L., Choi, J. J., Laibson, D., Madrian, B. C., & Milkman, K. L. (2015) · The Journal of Finance · doi:10.1111/jofi.12258 · Cited by 446
Normative foundations of human cooperation
Fehr, E., & Schurtenberger, I. (2018) · Nature Human Behaviour · doi:10.1038/s41562-018-0385-5 · Cited by 434
Rethinking real-time electricity pricing
Allcott, H. (2011) · Resource and Energy Economics · doi:10.1016/j.reseneeco.2011.06.003 · Cited by 441
“�! ( 2 ) f�D ih;� A is;� HP ig ;� T isg = Demand parameters for household i”
Self-citationValues, Norms, and Intrinsic Motivation to Act Proenvironmentally
Steg, L. (2016) · Annual Review of Environment and Resources · doi:10.1146/annurev-environ-110615-085947 · Cited by 502
Site Selection Bias in Program Evaluation *
Allcott, H. (2015) · The Quarterly Journal of Economics · doi:10.1093/qje/qjv015 · Cited by 426
“Also closely related are the academic studies of early Opower programs, including Allcott (2011), Allcott and Rogers (2014), Ayres, Raseman, and Shih (2013), and Costa and Kahn (2013).”
Self-citationNonprice incentives and energy conservation
Asensio, O. I., & Delmas, M. A. (2015) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1401880112 · Cited by 451
“These net energy savings, which invoke considerations of health damages as a psychological mechanism, are at the high end of prior nonprice strategies using social comparisons (39, 40).”
Shah, A. K., Shafir, E., & Mullainathan, S. (2015) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/0956797614563958 · Cited by 433
“Policymakers often use framing and subtle contextual changes to nudge behavior in a number of domains, from energy (Allcott, 2012) to health (Banks et al., 1995) to voting (Bryan, Walton, Rogers, & Dweck, 2011).”
BackgroundStimulating Online Reviews by Combining Financial Incentives and Social Norms
Burtch, G., Hong, Y., Bapna, R., & Griskevicius, V. (2016) · Management Science · doi:10.1287/mnsc.2016.2715 · Cited by 411
“…incentives (Khern-am-nuai and Kannan 2014; Stephen et al. 2012; Wang et al. 2012) and social norms (Gerber and Rogers 2009; Ferraro and Price 2013; Allcott 2011) in isolation, we offer a first consideration of the relative and joint effects of financial incentives and social norms on motivating…”
Trudel, R. (2018) · Consumer Psychology Review · doi:10.1002/arcp.1045 · Cited by 501
Conspicuous conservation: The Prius halo and willingness to pay for environmental bona fides
Sexton, S. E., & Sexton, A. L. (2014) · Journal of Environmental Economics and Management · doi:10.1016/j.jeem.2013.11.004 · Cited by 413
Assessing the Energy-Efficiency Gap
Gerarden, T., Newell, R. G., & Stavins, R. N. (2017) · Journal of Economic Literature · doi:10.1257/jel.20161360 · Cited by 455
Understanding consumers’ intentions to purchase green products in the social media marketing context
Ying, S., & Wang, S. (2019) · Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics · doi:10.1108/apjml-03-2019-0178 · Cited by 404
The Welfare Effects of Nudges: A Case Study of Energy Use Social Comparisons
Allcott, H., & Kessler, J. B. (2019) · American Economic Journal Applied Economics · doi:10.1257/app.20170328 · Cited by 400
Self-citationObservational Learning: Evidence from a Randomized Natural Field Experiment
Cai, H., Chen, Y., & Fang, H. (2009) · American Economic Review · doi:10.1257/aer.99.3.864 · Cited by 376
Integrated Risk and Uncertainty Assessment of Climate Change Response Policies
Change, I. P. O. C. (2015) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9781107415416.008 · Cited by 417
Green nudges: Do they work? Are they ethical?
Schubert, C. (2016) · Ecological Economics · doi:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2016.11.009 · Cited by 469
Peer influence on household energy behaviours
Wolske, K. S., Gillingham, K. T., & Schultz, P. W. (2020) · Nature Energy · doi:10.1038/s41560-019-0541-9 · Cited by 368
The effects of feedback on energy conservation: A meta-analysis.
Karlin, B., Zinger, J. F., & Ford, R. (2015) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/a0039650 · Cited by 361
“as such, consumers’ attention can drop away in the interim (Allcott, 2011).”
BackgroundFactors affecting energy-saving behaviours and energy efficiency investments in British households
Trotta, G. (2018) · Energy Policy · doi:10.1016/j.enpol.2017.12.042 · Cited by 335
Frederiks, E. R., Stenner, K., & Hobman, E. V. (2015) · Energies · doi:10.3390/en8010573 · Cited by 384
“More recently, Allcott [141] found that providing descriptive normative information led to an average residential energy saving of 2.”
BackgroundConsumers underestimate the emissions associated with food but are aided by labels
Camilleri, A. R., Larrick, R. P., Hossain, S., & Patiño‐Echeverri, D. (2018) · Nature Climate Change · doi:10.1038/s41558-018-0354-z · Cited by 367
Impact of community masking on COVID-19: a cluster-randomized trial in Bangladesh
Abaluck, J., Kwong, L. H., Styczynski, A., Haque, A., Kabir, M. A., Bates-Jefferys, E., Crawford, E., Benjamin-Chung, J., Raihan, S., Rahman, S., et al. (2022) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.abi9069 · Cited by 333
Green Innovation and Finance in Asia
Tolliver, C., Fujii, H., Keeley, A., & Managi, S. (2020) · Asian Economic Policy Review · doi:10.1111/aepr.12320 · Cited by 299
“As such, effective energy conservation strategies for this sector rely on price (Ayres et al., 2013; Jessoe and Rapson, 2014; Jessoe and Rapson, 2015) and non-price (Allcott, 2011; Asensio and Delmas, 2015) policy interventions.”
Beyond Technology: Demand-Side Solutions for Climate Change Mitigation
Creutzig, F., Milan, B. F., Haberl, H., Khosla, R., Mulugetta, Y., & Seto, K. C. (2016) · Annual Review of Environment and Resources · doi:10.1146/annurev-environ-110615-085428 · Cited by 347
“In a certain sense, cost-effectiveness studies of behavioral options and social norms are possible, as demonstrated for energy conservation by communicating their relative ranking in terms of electricity bills (105, 142).”
BackgroundExplaining environmental behavior across borders: A meta-analysis
Morren, M., & Grinstein, A. (2016) · Journal of Environmental Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jenvp.2016.05.003 · Cited by 358
Social Learning and Incentives for Experimentation and Communication
BenYishay, A., & Mobarak, A. M. (2019) · The Review of Economic Studies · doi:10.1093/restud/rdy039 · Cited by 328
van Valkengoed, A. M., Abrahamse, W., & Steg, L. (2022) · Nature Human Behaviour · doi:10.1038/s41562-022-01473-w · Cited by 364
Damgaard, M. T., & Nielsen, H. S. (2018) · Economics of Education Review · doi:10.1016/j.econedurev.2018.03.008 · Cited by 321
“Allcott, 2011) and as a result it may be desirable to use targeted rather than universal nudges. Furthermore, as argued by Mullainathan and Shafir (2013) behavioural interventions may be particularly relevant and effective when individuals face economic or social scarcity because it occupies attention and potentially…”
BackgroundInfluentialSunstein, C. R. (2017) · Behavioural Public Policy · doi:10.1017/bpp.2016.3 · Cited by 319
“The interest in such choice-preserving approaches stems from the belief – or the hope – that they can be highly effective in achieving important social goals (Pichert & Katsikopoulos, 2008; Bettinger et al., 2009; Allcott, 2011; Chetty et al., 2012; Benartzi & Thaler, 2013; Egebark & Ekstrom, 2013; Manoli & Turner, 20…”
BackgroundAndor, M., & Fels, K. (2018) · Ecological Economics · doi:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2018.01.018 · Cited by 336
“Several high quality studies in this review (Allcott 2011; Ayres et al. 2013; Costa and Kahn 2013; Allcott and Rogers 2014) report significant, yet modest reduction effects.”
BackgroundOvercoming Salience Bias: How Real-Time Feedback Fosters Resource Conservation
Tiefenbeck, V., Goette, L. F., Degen, K., Tasic, V., Fleisch, E., Lalive, R., & Staake, T. (2016) · Management Science · doi:10.1287/mnsc.2016.2646 · Cited by 319
“Previous studies have found that conservation effects are larger for high-baseline users than for users who start out with a more efficient resource use (Allcott 2011, Ferraro and Price 2013, Degen et al. 2013, Allcott and Rogers 2014, Schultz et al. 2014, Brent et al. 2015).”
BackgroundResultInfluentialQi, D., & Roe, B. E. (2016) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0159250 · Cited by 299
“Interventions by energy companies that measure household energy usage and report the household’s usage compared to that of neighbors have yielded reductions in energy usage across all households involved [40, 41], though similarly effective household-level measurement technology is currently lacking in the realm of fo…”
BackgroundRevealing household characteristics from smart meter data
Beckel, C., Sadamori, L., Staake, T., & Silvia Santini, B. (2014) · Energy · doi:10.1016/j.energy.2014.10.025 · Cited by 323
“It has been shown in the past that efficiency campaigns benefit from tailoring advice and motivational cues to the recipient [3, 4, 5].”
BackgroundBursztyn, L., & Jensen, R. (2017) · Annual Review of Economics · doi:10.1146/annurev-economics-063016-103625 · Cited by 301
Kim, M.-K., Oh, J.-S., Park, J., & Joo, C. (2018) · Energy · doi:10.1016/j.energy.2018.06.064 · Cited by 300
Data-Driven Innovation through Open Government Data
Jetzek, T., Avital, M., & Bjørn‐Andersen, N. (2014) · Journal of theoretical and applied electronic commerce research · doi:10.4067/s0718-18762014000200008 · Cited by 300
“Over the next few months, Opower worked out a four-stage framework for customer interaction; analyze, engage, measure, and sustain [2], [16].”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialThe Routledge Handbook of Urbanization and Global Environmental Change
Seto, K. C., SOLECKI, W. D., & Griffith, C. A. (2015) · Routledge eBooks · doi:10.4324/9781315849256 · Cited by 291
Constantino, S. M., Sparkman, G., Kraft‐Todd, G., Bicchieri, C., Centola, D. M., Shell‐Duncan, B., Vogt, S., & Weber, E. U. (2022) · Gothic.net · doi:10.1177/15291006221105279 · Cited by 334
“There is tremendous inequity in responsibility for historical and current greenhouse-gas emissions: Roughly 10% of people contribute half of global emissions (Chakravarty et al., 2009; Gore, 2015; MacKay, 2008; Wynes & Nicholas, 2017).3 Nor are people on equal footing in terms of their capacity to take climate action…”
BackgroundInfluentialGuo, Z., Zhou, K., Zhang, C., Lu, X., Chen, W. L., & Yang, S. (2017) · Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.rser.2017.07.046 · Cited by 293
Nudging out support for a carbon tax
Hagmann, D., Ho, E., & Loewenstein, G. F. (2019) · Nature Climate Change · doi:10.1038/s41558-019-0474-0 · Cited by 302
“This information has been shown to decrease energy consumption 1 .”
Disclosure: Psychology Changes Everything
Loewenstein, G. F., Sunstein, C. R., & Golman, R. (2014) · Annual Review of Economics · doi:10.1146/annurev-economics-080213-041341 · Cited by 321
“, 2007), and the impact on energy consumption of driving cars differing in fuel economy (Allcott, 2011).”
DellaVigna, S., List, J. A., Malmendier, U. M., & Rao, G. (2016) · The Review of Economic Studies · doi:10.1093/restud/rdw056 · Cited by 284
“…are public (Ariely, Bracha, and Meier, 2009; Lacetera and Macis, 2010), that campaign contributions depend on social comparisons (PerezTruglia and Cruces, 2013), and that energy consumption declines when social comparisons of energy usage are provided (Schultz et al. (2007); Allcott (2011)).”
BackgroundQuality Unknown: The Invisible Water Crisis
Damania, R., Desbureaux, S., Rodella, A.-S., Russ, J. D., & Zaveri, E. D. (2019) · World Bank, Washington, DC eBooks · doi:10.1596/978-1-4648-1459-4 · Cited by 322
Nudging with Care: The Risks and Benefits of Social Information
Bicchieri, C., & Dimant, E. (2019) · Public Choice · doi:10.1007/s11127-019-00684-6 · Cited by 410
“To achieve such changes, nudging with social information about what others do or approve/disapprove of (in the same context) is the tool used to induce behavior change (e.g., Allcott 2011).”
InfluentialCash for Coolers: Evaluating a Large-Scale Appliance Replacement Program in Mexico
Davis, L. W., Fuchs, A., & Gertler, P. (2014) · American Economic Journal Economic Policy · doi:10.1257/pol.6.4.207 · Cited by 273
Advances in Measuring the Environmental and Social Impacts of Environmental Programs
Ferraro, P. J., & Hanauer, M. M. (2014) · Annual Review of Environment and Resources · doi:10.1146/annurev-environ-101813-013230 · Cited by 370
The question of energy reduction: The problem(s) with feedback
Buchanan, K. E., Russo, R., & Anderson, B. (2014) · Energy Policy · doi:10.1016/j.enpol.2014.12.008 · Cited by 273
“For instance, only 1 (Alcott, 2011) out of the 22 “high quality” studies from Delmas et als'.”
BackgroundMaking Transparency Transparent: The Evolution of Observation in Management Theory
Bernstein, E. S. (2017) · Academy of Management Annals · doi:10.5465/annals.2014.0076 · Cited by 299
“4 Powell, Koput, & Smith-Doerr, 1996; Teece, 1992), learning (Argote, Ingram, Levine, & Moreland, 2000; Driver, 2002; Hackman & Wageman, 1995; Sitkin, Sutcliffe, & Schroeder, 1994), and the modification of behaviors through the peer effects of social information (Allcott, 2011; Beshears, Choi, Laibson, Madrian, & Milk…”
Being surveyed can change later behavior and related parameter estimates
Zwane, A. P., Zinman, J., Dusen, E. V., Parienté, W., Null, C., Miguel, E. A., Kremer, M. R., Karlan, D., Hornbeck, R. A., Xavier Giné, A., et al. (2011) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1000776108 · Cited by 268
The capitalization of green labels in the California housing market
Kahn, M. E., & Kok, N. (2013) · Regional Science and Urban Economics · doi:10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2013.07.001 · Cited by 257
Consumer engagement: An insight from smart grid projects in Europe
Flavia, G., Mengolini, A., & Onyeji, I. (2013) · Energy Policy · doi:10.1016/j.enpol.2013.05.031 · Cited by 265
Steg, L. (2022) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev-psych-032720-042905 · Cited by 323
“Such descriptive norm information can indeed promote climate actions (Allcott 2011; Nolan et al. 2008; Schultz et al. 2007, 2015), although the effect size is small (Abrahamse & Steg 2013).”
BackgroundGans, W., Alberini, A., & Longo, A. (2012) · Energy Economics · doi:10.1016/j.eneco.2012.11.022 · Cited by 272
Beyond Willpower: Strategies for Reducing Failures of Self-Control
Duckworth, A. L., Milkman, K. L., & Laibson, D. (2018) · Gothic.net · doi:10.1177/1529100618821893 · Cited by 294
“In a massive field study run by the company OPower, being informed about the energy consumption of one’s neighbors in similar homes was shown to promote energy conservation, leading to reliable 2% year-over-year reductions in energy usage (Allcott, 2011). Moreover, these reductions in energy use persist over multiple…”
BackgroundMegastudies improve the impact of applied behavioural science
Milkman, K. L., Gromet, D. M., Ho, H., Kay, J., Lee, T. W., Pandiloski, P., Park, Y., Rai, A., Bazerman, M. H., Beshears, J. L., et al. (2021) · Nature · doi:10.1038/s41586-021-04128-4 · Cited by 260
Applying Insights from Behavioral Economics to Policy Design
Madrian, B. C. (2014) · Annual Review of Economics · doi:10.1146/annurev-economics-080213-041033 · Cited by 273
Nudging Energy Efficiency Behavior: The Role of Information Labels
Newell, R. G., & Siikamäki, J. (2014) · Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists · doi:10.1086/679281 · Cited by 256
Informing Versus Nudging in Environmental Policy
Ölander, F., & Thøgersen, J. B. (2014) · Journal of Consumer Policy · doi:10.1007/s10603-014-9256-2 · Cited by 250
Domestic uptake of green energy promoted by opt-out tariffs
Ebeling, F., & Lotz, S. (2015) · Nature Climate Change · doi:10.1038/nclimate2681 · Cited by 244
Salience of carbon taxes in the gasoline market
Rivers, N., & Schaufele, B. (2015) · Journal of Environmental Economics and Management · doi:10.1016/j.jeem.2015.07.002 · Cited by 244
Morganti, L., Pallavicini, F., Cadel, E., Candelieri, A., Archetti, F., & Mantovani, F. (2017) · Energy Research & Social Science · doi:10.1016/j.erss.2017.05.001 · Cited by 244
Personalized Normative Feedback and the Moderating Role of Personal Norms
Schultz, P. W., Messina, A., Tronu, G., Limas, E. F., Gupta, R., & Estrada, M. (2014) · Environment and Behavior · doi:10.1177/0013916514553835 · Cited by 236
“This basic effect replicates previous studies (Allcott, 2011; Ferraro & Price, 2011; Schultz et al., 2007) and demonstrates that the approach can be effectively applied to water (see also Fielding et al.”
BackgroundResultVadakkepatt, G., Winterich, K. P., Mittal, V., et al. (2020) · Journal of Retailing · doi:10.1016/j.jretai.2020.10.008 · Cited by 231
Decarbonizing Development: Three Steps to a Zero-Carbon Future
Fay, M., Stéphane Hallegatte, A., Vogt‐Schilb, A., Rozenberg, J., Narloch, U., & Kerr, T. (2015) · World Bank, Washington, DC eBooks · doi:10.1596/978-1-4648-0479-3 · Cited by 234
Business models for distributed energy resources: A review and empirical analysis
Burger, S. P., & Luke, M. (2017) · Energy Policy · doi:10.1016/j.enpol.2017.07.007 · Cited by 228
“Businesses that use this model tend not to provide explicit control or dispatch signals, but rather provide “nudges” and targeted incentives to create a response [41,42].”
BackgroundSchultz, P. W., Estrada, M., Schmitt, J., Sokoloski, R., & Silva-Send, N. (2015) · Energy · doi:10.1016/j.energy.2015.06.130 · Cited by 222
Metadata
- Authors
- Allcott, H.
- Affiliations
- New York University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Allcott, Hunt
- Venue
- Journal of Public Economics
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2011-10
- Volume
- 95
- Issue
- 9-10
- Pages
- 1082-1095
- ISSN
- 0047-2727 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2139035425
- Cited by
- 2,802
- References
- 104
- Citations by year
- 2026: 225 · 2025: 209 · 2024: 194 · 2023: 208 · 2022: 226 · 2021: 257 · 2020: 225 · 2019: 240 · 2018: 199 · 2017: 171 · 2016: 165 · 2015: 161 · 2014: 147 · 2013: 94 · 2012: 55
- FWCI
- 263.94
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Public Economics (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law › Pro-Environmental Behavior and Attitudes
- Physical Sciences › Energy › Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment › Energy, Environment, and Transportation Policies
- Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › Experimental Behavioral Economics Studies
- Keywords
- social norms, energy conservation, social comparison, residential electricity consumption, cost-effectiveness, injunctive norms, descriptive norms, treatment effect heterogeneity
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
