The Persistence of Moral Suasion and Economic Incentives: Field Experimental Evidence from Energy Demand / Koichiro Ito, Takanori Ida, Makoto Tanaka.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ito, Koichiro.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Ida, Takanori.

Tanaka, Makoto.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w20910.

NBER working paper series no. w20910

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

Persistence of Moral Suasion and Economic Incentives

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2015.

Summary:

Firms and governments often use moral suasion and economic incentives to influence intrinsic and extrinsic motivations for various economic activities. To investigate the persistence of such interventions, we randomly assigned households to moral suasion and dynamic pricing that stimulate energy conservation during peak demand hours. Using household-level consumption data for 30-minute intervals, we find significant short-run effects of moral suasion, but the effects diminished quickly after repeated interventions. Economic incentives produced larger and persistent effects, which induced habit formation after the final interventions. While each policy produces substantial welfare gains, economic incentives provide particularly large gains when we consider persistence.

Notes:

Print version record

January 2015.