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.
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“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
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How Much Should We Trust Differences-in-Differences Estimates?
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A Theory of the Allocation of Time
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“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).”
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“[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
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Flagged first, then by citations
5 of the 104 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.
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
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Can households drive the energy transition?
Chaton, C., & Zitouni, S. (2026) · Resource and Energy Economics · doi:10.1016/j.reseneeco.2026.101600
A Framework for Understanding the Role of Nudges in Agriculture
Just, D. R., & Jiao, J. (2026) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-032-31066-8_3
Nakano, Y., & HONDO, H. (2026) · International Journal of Sustainable Development & World Ecology · doi:10.1080/13504509.2026.2738668
Uses of Behavioral Economics for Environmental Economists
Georganas, S., Velias, A., & Koundouri, P. (2026) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/9780197851418.003.0975
Facilitating a Contested Practice: Building and growing urban transport cycling in Santiago de Chile
Wesslowski, V. (2014) · Research Explorer (The University of Manchester)
Flora, J. A., & Banerjee, B. (2015) · Lecture notes in computer science · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-20886-2_41 · Cited by 1
“Ruiz and Sicilia [14] showed that when individuals were exposed to ads congruent with their processing styles, in terms of affect and cognition, higher advertising effectiveness was obtained.”
Background
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
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