Cited by 2,802Pro-Environmental Behavior and AttitudesEnergy, Environment, and Transportation PoliciesExperimental Behavioral Economics Studies

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Social norms and energy conservation

Allcott, Hunt·2011·Journal of Public Economics

DOI 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2011.03.003

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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.

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“However, it was also observed that when consumers noticed their consumption was lower than the average of their neighbors, they increased their electricity consumption, a phenomenon known in psychology as the “boomerang effect” (Allcott, 2011).”
Background
Climate change catastrophes and insuring decisions: A study in the presence of ambiguity
le Roux, S. (2018) · Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization · doi:10.1016/j.jebo.2018.07.021 · Cited by 5
Disaster Preparedness and Disaster Response: Evidence from Water Sales before and after Tropical Cyclones
Shimshack, J. P. (2015) · 2015 Fall Conference: The Golden Age of Evidence-Based Policy · Cited by 5
Behavioral policy interventions to address education inequality
Castleman, B., Haskins, R., Akers, B., Baron, J., Dynarski, S., Farran, D. C., Feldman, A., Jones, D., Keys, B. J., Maynard, R. A., et al. (2017) · Behavioral Science & Policy · doi:10.1353/bsp.2017.0004 · Cited by 5
Responsiveness of low-income households to hybrid price/non-price policies in the presence of energy shortages: evidence from Colombia
Eguiguren-Cosmelli, J. (2018) · Energy Efficiency · doi:10.1007/s12053-017-9595-3 · Cited by 5
Putting social rewards and identity salience to the test: Evidence from a field experiment with teachers in Philadelphia
Bhanot, S. P., Kraft‐Todd, G., Rand, D. G., & Yoeli, E. (2018) · Journal of Behavioral Public Administration · doi:10.30636/jbpa.11.20 · Cited by 6
“This reality has encouraged academics and policymakers to consider utilizing social incentives for behavior change, with the argument that they can be cost effective tools for addressing policy challenges (Allcott, 2011, Ashraf et al., 2014, Hallsworth et al., 2017).”
A priori acceptability of various types of digital display feedback on electricity consumption
Fleury, S., Jamet, É., Michinov, E., Michinov, N., & Erhel, S. (2018) · Le travail humain · doi:10.3917/th.813.0247 · Cited by 6
The influence of information-based Transport Demand Management measures on commuting mode choice. Comparing web vs. face-toface surveys
Silva, J. D. A. E., Papaix, C., & Chen, G. (2018) · Transportation research procedia · doi:10.1016/j.trpro.2018.10.066 · Cited by 6
“…related with health perceptions and physical exercise were based on the work of Korn et al. (2013) and Marsh et al. (2010), whereas perceptions about environmental risk and public attitudes towards injunctive and descriptive social norms were based on the work of Linden (2015) and Allcott (2011).”
Method
Recurrent Mobility: Urban Conduits for Diffusion of Energy Efficiency
Mohammadi, N., & Taylor, J. E. (2019) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-019-56372-4 · Cited by 5
Context-Aware Smart Energy Recommender (CASER)
Sitoula, P., Rahayu, D., Haghighi, P. D., et al. (2019) · doi:10.1145/3365921.3365935 · Cited by 5
“One effective solution uses social norms research and provides the ability to compare to neighbour profiles with similar household characteristics[2].”
BackgroundMethod
Behavioural policy 'nudges' to encourage woodland creation for climate change mitigation.
Moseley, D., Dandy, N., Edwards, D. P., et al. (2014) · Cited by 5
Three thumbs up for social norms
Jachimowicz, J. (2020) · Nature Energy · doi:10.1038/s41560-020-00723-3 · Cited by 5
Social Pressure in Networks Induces Public Good Provision
Jimenez‐Gomez, D. (2021) · Games · doi:10.3390/g12010004 · Cited by 5
The Relationship Between Islamic Microfinance and Women Entrepreneurship: A Case Study in Malaysia
Islam, M. A., Thambiah, S., & Ahmed, E. M. (2021) · Journal of Asian Finance Economics and Business · doi:10.13106/jafeb.2021.vol8.no5.0817 · Cited by 9
“…motivating voter participation (Gerber & Rogers, 2009), encouraging the reuse of financial products (Goldstein et al., 2008), reducing energy use (Allcott, 2011; Nolan et al., 2008; Schultz et al., 2007), reducing water usage (Ferraro & Price 2013), increasing the consumption of nutritious foods…”
Background
Deterrents and nudges improve compliance in Greenland's Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) fishery
Snyder, H. T., Cox, M. E., Hansen, S. B., Connors, C. S., & Eckstein, S. (2021) · ICES Journal of Marine Science · doi:10.1093/icesjms/fsab159 · Cited by 6
The Effects of Group Identity on Pro-environmental Behavioral Norms in China: Evidence From an Experiment
Wan, Q., & Deng, H. (2022) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.865258 · Cited by 5
“…the heterogeneity in the effects of external constraints on group norms, such as under reward, incentive institutions, and marketization mechanisms, Allcott (2011) and Bolsen et al. (2014) found that household water and energy consumption behaviors across different groups show significant…”
Background
Using text and charts to provide social norm feedback to general practices with high overall and high broad-spectrum antibiotic prescribing: a series of national randomised controlled trials
Gold, N., Sallis, A., Saei, A., Arambepola, R., Watson, R., Bowen, S., Franklin, M., & Chadborn, T. (2022) · Trials · doi:10.1186/s13063-022-06373-y · Cited by 5
Making Summer Pay Off: Using Behavioral Science to Encourage Postsecondary Summer Enrollment.
Headlam, C., Anzelone, C., & Weiss, M. J. (2018) · Cited by 5
Nudging consumers towards card payments: a field experiment
Aydoğan, S., & Hove, L. V. (2015) · VUBIR (Vrije Universiteit Brussel) · Cited by 5
Noninvasive Detection of Appliance Utilization Patterns in Residential Electricity Demand
Villar, F. S., Nardelli, P. H. J., Narayanan, A., et al. (2021) · Energies · doi:10.3390/en14061563 · Cited by 5
Informed Dashboard Designs for Microgrid Electricity Market Operators
Goodwin, S., Dkhissi, Y., Wu, Q., Moyle, B., Freidin, K., & Liebman, A. (2021) · ACM International Conference on Future Energy Systems (e-Energy) · doi:10.1145/3447555.3466604 · Cited by 5
“This has been shown to have a positive effect on reducing consumption in residential case study [2], along with the positive effect of the use of icons (e.”
Background
It Wasn't Me! Visibility and Free Riding in Waste SortingPreprint
Bucciol, A., Montinari, N., & Piovesan, M. (2014) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.2440753 · Cited by 5
Social- and Self-Image Concerns in Fair-Trade Consumption: Evidence from Experimental Auctions for ChocolatePreprint
Teyssier, S., Étilé, F., & Combris, P. (2012) · RePEc: Research Papers in Economics · Cited by 5
Private provision of public goods: Do individual climate protection efforts depend on perceptions of climate policy?Preprint
Schleich, J. E., Schwirplies, C., & Ziegler, A. R. (2024) · RePEc: Research Papers in Economics · doi:10.17192/es2024.0353 · Cited by 5

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)
DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2011.03.003
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
Licence: www.elsevier.com/tdm/userlicense/1.0/ (tdm)
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

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