The Short-Run and Long-Run Effects of Behavioral Interventions: Experimental Evidence from Energy Conservation / Hunt Allcott, Todd Rogers.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Allcott, Hunt.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Rogers, Todd.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w18492.

NBER working paper series no. w18492

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2012.

Summary:

We document three remarkable features of the Opower program, in which social comparison- based home energy reports are repeatedly mailed to more than six million households nationwide. First, initial reports cause high-frequency "action and backsliding," but these cycles attenuate over time. Second, if reports are discontinued after two years, effects are relatively persistent, decaying at 10-20 percent per year. Third, consumers are slow to habituate: they continue to respond to repeated treatment even after two years. We show that the previous conservative assumptions about post-intervention persistence had dramatically understated cost effectiveness and illustrate how empirical estimates can optimize program design.

Notes:

Print version record

October 2012.