Are Consumers Poorly Informed about Fuel Economy? Evidence from Two Experiments / Hunt Allcott, Christopher Knittel.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Allcott, Hunt.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Knittel, Christopher.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w23076.

NBER working paper series no. w23076

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

Are Consumers Poorly-Informed about Fuel Economy?

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2017.

Summary:

It is often asserted that consumers are poorly informed about and inattentive to fuel economy, causing them to buy low-fuel economy vehicles despite their own best interest. This paper presents evidence on this assertion through two experiments providing fuel economy information to new vehicle shoppers. Results show zero statistical or economic effect on average fuel economy of vehicles purchased. In the context of a simple optimal policy model, the estimates suggest that current and proposed U.S. fuel economy standards are significantly more stringent than needed to address the classes of imperfect information and inattention addressed by our interventions.

Notes:

Print version record

January 2017.