Nothing Special   »   [go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/col/000178/014330.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Labels as Nudges? An Experimental Study of Car Eco-labels

Author

Listed:
  • Francesco Bogliacino
  • Cristiano Codagnone
  • Giuseppe Alessandro Veltri
  • Francisco Lupiáñez-Villanueva
  • George Gaskell
  • Andriy Ivchenko
Abstract
This article presents the results of a laboratory experiment and an online multi-country experiment testing the effect of motor vehicle eco-labels on consumers. The laboratory study featured a discrete choice task and questions on comprehension, while the ten countries online experiment included measures of willingness to pay and comprehension. Labels focusing on fuel economy or running costs are better understood, and influence choice about money-related eco-friendly behaviour. We suggest that this effect comes through mental accounting of fuel economy. In the absence of a cost saving frame, we do not find a similar effect of information on CO2 emissions and eco-friendliness. Labels do not perform as well as promotional materials. Being embedded into a setting, which is designed to capture the attention, the latter are more effective. We found also that large and expensive cars tend to be undervalued once fuel economy is highlighted.

Suggested Citation

  • Francesco Bogliacino & Cristiano Codagnone & Giuseppe Alessandro Veltri & Francisco Lupiáñez-Villanueva & George Gaskell & Andriy Ivchenko, 2016. "Labels as Nudges? An Experimental Study of Car Eco-labels," Documentos de Trabajo, Escuela de Economía 14330, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, FCE, CID.
    • Handle: RePEc:col:000178:014330
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.fce.unal.edu.co/centro-editorial/docs/escuela-de-economia/69-labels-as-nudges-an-experimental-study-of-car-eco-labels
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Anderson, C Dennis & Claxton, John D, 1982. "Barriers to Consumer Choice of Energy Efficient Products," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 9(2), pages 163-170, September.
    2. Hilton, Denis & Charalambides, Laetitia & Demarque, Christophe & Waroquier, Laurent & Raux, Charles, 2014. "A tax can nudge: The impact of an environmentally motivated bonus/malus fiscal system on transport preferences," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 17-27.
    3. Thøgersen, John & Noblet, Caroline, 2012. "Does green consumerism increase the acceptance of wind power?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 854-862.
    4. René van Bavel & Nuria Rodríguez-Priego & Ioannis Maghiros, 2015. "Seven Points to Remember when Conducting Behavioural Studies in Support of EU Policy-making," JRC Research Reports JRC96525, Joint Research Centre.
    5. Gadenne, David & Sharma, Bishnu & Kerr, Don & Smith, Tim, 2011. "The influence of consumers' environmental beliefs and attitudes on energy saving behaviours," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(12), pages 7684-7694.
    6. Frieder Rubik & Paolo Frankl & Lucia Pietroni & Dirk Scheer, 2007. "Eco-labelling and consumers: towards a re-focus and integrated approaches," International Journal of Innovation and Sustainable Development, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 2(2), pages 175-191.
    7. Cass R. Sunstein & Richard H. Thaler, 2003. "Libertarian paternalism is not an oxymoron," Conference Series ; [Proceedings], Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, vol. 48(Jun).
    8. Rachel Croson & Nicolas Treich, 2014. "Behavioral Environmental Economics: Promises and Challenges," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 58(3), pages 335-351, July.
    9. McNeill, Dennis L & Wilkie, William L, 1979. "Public Policy and Consumer Information: Impact of the New Energy Labels," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 6(1), pages 1-11, June.
    10. Camerer, Colin F & Hogarth, Robin M, 1999. "The Effects of Financial Incentives in Experiments: A Review and Capital-Labor-Production Framework," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 19(1-3), pages 7-42, December.
    11. René van Bavel & Benedikt Herrmann & Gabriele Esposito & Antonios Proestakis, 2013. "Applying Behavioural Science to EU Policy-Making," JRC Research Reports JRC83284, Joint Research Centre.
    12. Bicchieri, Cristina & Erte, Xiao, 2007. "Do the right thing: But only if others do so," MPRA Paper 4609, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Cass R. Sunstein & Lucia A. Reisch, 2013. "Green by Default," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 66(3), pages 398-402, August.
    14. Daniel Kahneman & Amos Tversky, 2013. "Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision Under Risk," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Leonard C MacLean & William T Ziemba (ed.), HANDBOOK OF THE FUNDAMENTALS OF FINANCIAL DECISION MAKING Part I, chapter 6, pages 99-127, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    15. Eric Johnson & Suzanne Shu & Benedict Dellaert & Craig Fox & Daniel Goldstein & Gerald Häubl & Richard Larrick & John Payne & Ellen Peters & David Schkade & Brian Wansink & Elke Weber, 2012. "Beyond nudges: Tools of a choice architecture," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 23(2), pages 487-504, June.
    16. Francesco Bogliacino & Cristiano Codagnone & Giuseppe Alessandro Veltri & Amitav Chakravarti & Pietro Ortoleva & George Gaskell & Andriy Ivchenko & Francisco Lupiáñez-Villanueva & Francesco Mureddu & , 2015. "Pathos & Ethos: Emotions and Willingness to Pay for Tobacco Products," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(10), pages 1-25, October.
    17. Galarraga, Ibon & Ramos, Ana & Lucas, Josu & Labandeira, Xavier, 2014. "The price of energy efficiency in the Spanish car market," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 272-282.
    18. Richard H. Thaler & Cass R. Sunstein, 2023. "Libertarian paternalism," Chapters, in: Cass R. Sunstein & Lucia A. Reisch (ed.), Research Handbook on Nudges and Society, chapter 1, pages 10-16, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    19. Wanki Moon & Wojciech J. Florkowski & Bernhard Brückner & Ilona Schonhof, 2002. "Willingness to Pay for Environmental Practices: Implications for Eco-Labeling," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 78(1), pages 88-102.
    20. Amos Tversky & Daniel Kahneman, 1991. "Loss Aversion in Riskless Choice: A Reference-Dependent Model," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 106(4), pages 1039-1061.
    21. Fredrik Carlsson & Olof Johansson-Stenman, 2012. "Behavioral Economics and Environmental Policy," Annual Review of Resource Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 4(1), pages 75-99, August.
    22. Martin Achtnicht, 2012. "German car buyers’ willingness to pay to reduce CO 2 emissions," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 113(3), pages 679-697, August.
    23. Kurani, Kenneth S. & Turrentine, Thomas S., 2002. "Marketing Clean and Efficient Vehicles: A Review of Social Marketing and Social Science Approaches," Institute of Transportation Studies, Working Paper Series qt2p923054, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Davis.
    24. Delmas, Magali A. & Grant, Laura E., 2008. "Eco-Labeling Strategies: The Eco-Premium Puzzle In The Wine Industry," Working Papers 37325, American Association of Wine Economists.
    25. Vlaeminck, Pieter & Jiang, Ting & Vranken, Liesbet, 2014. "Food labeling and eco-friendly consumption: Experimental evidence from a Belgian supermarket," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 180-190.
    26. Richard H. Thaler, 2008. "Mental Accounting and Consumer Choice," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 27(1), pages 15-25, 01-02.
    27. Joop de Boer, 2003. "Sustainability labelling schemes: the logic of their claims and their functions for stakeholders," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(4), pages 254-264, July.
    28. Sahoo, Anshuman & Sawe, Nik, 2015. "The Heterogeneous Effects of Eco-labels on Internalities and Externalities," Research Papers 3403, Stanford University, Graduate School of Business.
    29. Choo, Sangho & Mokhtarian, Patricia L., 2004. "What type of vehicle do people drive? The role of attitude and lifestyle in influencing vehicle type choice," University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers qt7vg1057g, University of California Transportation Center.
    30. Ted Gayer & W. Viscusi, 2013. "Overriding consumer preferences with energy regulations," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 43(3), pages 248-264, June.
    31. Allcott, Hunt, 2011. "Social norms and energy conservation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(9-10), pages 1082-1095, October.
    32. Hunt Allcott & Todd Rogers, 2014. "The Short-Run and Long-Run Effects of Behavioral Interventions: Experimental Evidence from Energy Conservation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(10), pages 3003-3037, October.
    33. Jeffrey R. Blend & Eileen O. van Ravenswaay, 1999. "Measuring Consumer Demand for Ecolabeled Apples," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 81(5), pages 1072-1077.
    34. Douadia Bougherara & Gilles Grolleau & Luc Thiébaut, 2005. "Can Labelling Policies Do More Harm Than Good? An Analysis Applied to Environmental Labelling Schemes," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 19(1), pages 5-16, January.
    35. Allcott, Hunt, 2011. "Social norms and energy conservation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(9), pages 1082-1095.
    36. Kaenzig, Josef & Heinzle, Stefanie Lena & Wüstenhagen, Rolf, 2013. "Whatever the customer wants, the customer gets? Exploring the gap between consumer preferences and default electricity products in Germany," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 311-322.
    37. Riccardo Rebonato, 2014. "A Critical Assessment of Libertarian Paternalism," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 37(3), pages 357-396, September.
    38. María Bernedo & Paul Ferraro & Michael Price, 2014. "The Persistent Impacts of Norm-Based Messaging and Their Implications for Water Conservation," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 37(3), pages 437-452, September.
    39. Teisl, Mario F. & Rubin, Jonathan & Noblet, Caroline L., 2008. "Non-dirty dancing? Interactions between eco-labels and consumers," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 140-159, April.
    40. Choo, Sangho & Mokhtarian, Patricia L., 2004. "What type of vehicle do people drive? The role of attitude and lifestyle in influencing vehicle type choice," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 201-222, March.
    41. Momsen, Katharina & Stoerk, Thomas, 2014. "From intention to action: Can nudges help consumers to choose renewable energy?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 376-382.
    42. Loureiro, Maria L. & McCluskey, Jill J. & Mittelhammer, Ronald C., 2001. "Assessing Consumer Preferences For Organic, Eco-Labeled, And Regular Apples," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 26(2), pages 1-13, December.
    43. Steffen Kallbekken & Håkon Sælen & Erlend Hermansen, 2013. "Bridging the Energy Efficiency Gap: A Field Experiment on Lifetime Energy Costs and Household Appliances," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 36(1), pages 1-16, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. He, Shutong & Blasch, Julia & Robinson, Peter John & van Beukering, Pieter, 2024. "Social comparison feedback in decision-making context: Environmental externality levels and psychological traits matter," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    2. Takuro Uehara & Ryo Sakurai, 2021. "Have Sustainable Development Goal Depictions Functioned as a Nudge for the Younger Generation before and during the COVID-19 Outbreak?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-18, February.
    3. E. Denny, 2022. "Long-term Energy Cost Labelling for Appliances: Evidence from a Randomised Controlled Trial in Ireland," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 45(3), pages 369-409, September.
    4. Charu Grover & Sangeeta Bansal & Adan L. Martinez-Cruz, "undated". "Influence of Social Network Effect and Incentive on Choice of Star Labeled Cars in India: A Latent Class Approach based on Choice Experiment," Centre for International Trade and Development, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi Discussion Papers 18-05, Centre for International Trade and Development, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India.
    5. Y. Gómez & V. Martínez-Molés & J. Vila, 2016. "Spanish regulation for labeling of financial products: a behavioral-experimental analysis," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 33(3), pages 355-378, December.
    6. Murtaza Haider & Randall Shannon & George P. Moschis, 2022. "Sustainable Consumption Research and the Role of Marketing: A Review of the Literature (1976–2021)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-36, March.
    7. Bogliacino, Francesco & Charris, Rafael & Codagnone, Cristiano & Folkvord, Frans & Gaskell, George & Gómez, Camilo & Liva, Giovanni & Montealegre, Felipe, 2023. "Less is more: Information overload in the labelling of fish and aquaculture products," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    8. He, Shutong & Blasch, Julia & van Beukering, Pieter, 2022. "How does information on environmental emissions influence appliance choice? The role of values and perceived environmental impacts," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    9. S. Ceolotto & E. Denny, 2024. "Putting a New ‘Spin’ on Energy Information: Measuring the Impact of Reframing Energy Efficiency Information on Tumble Dryer Choices in a Multi-country Experiment," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 47(1), pages 51-108, March.
    10. Galarraga, Ibon & Kallbekken, Steffen & Silvestri, Alessandro, 2020. "Consumer purchases of energy-efficient cars: How different labelling schemes could affect consumer response to price changes," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    11. Aydin, Erdal & Correa, Santiago Bohórquez & Brounen, Dirk, 2019. "Energy performance certification and time on the market," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    12. He, Shutong & Blasch, Julia & van Beukering, Pieter & Wang, Junfeng, 2022. "Energy labels and heuristic decision-making: The role of cognition and energy literacy," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    13. Haq, Gary & Weiss, Martin, 2016. "CO2 labelling of passenger cars in Europe: Status, challenges, and future prospects," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 324-335.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Schubert, Christian, 2017. "Green nudges: Do they work? Are they ethical?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 329-342.
    2. Cardella, Eric & Ewing, Brad & Williams, Ryan Blake, 2018. "Green is Good – The Impact of Information Nudges on the Adoption of Voluntary Green Power Plans," 2018 Annual Meeting, February 2-6, 2018, Jacksonville, Florida 266583, Southern Agricultural Economics Association.
    3. Christian Cordes & Joshua Henkel, 2022. "Enhanced "Green Nudging": Tapping the Channels of Cultural Transmission," Bremen Papers on Economics & Innovation 2208, University of Bremen, Faculty of Business Studies and Economics.
    4. Rachel Croson & Nicolas Treich, 2014. "Behavioral Environmental Economics: Promises and Challenges," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 58(3), pages 335-351, July.
    5. Egebark, Johan & Ekström, Mathias, 2016. "Can indifference make the world greener?," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 1-13.
    6. Momsen, Katharina & Stoerk, Thomas, 2014. "From intention to action: Can nudges help consumers to choose renewable energy?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 376-382.
    7. Kasperbauer, T.J., 2017. "The permissibility of nudging for sustainable energy consumption," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 52-57.
    8. Elena Kantorowicz‐Reznichenko & Jaroslaw Kantorowicz, 2021. "To follow or not to follow the herd? Transparency and social norm nudges," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 74(3), pages 362-377, August.
    9. Ramos, A. & Gago, A. & Labandeira, X. & Linares, P., 2015. "The role of information for energy efficiency in the residential sector," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(S1), pages 17-29.
    10. Luca Congiu & Ivan Moscati, 2022. "A review of nudges: Definitions, justifications, effectiveness," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(1), pages 188-213, February.
    11. Joseph,George & Ayling,Sophie Charlotte Emi & Miquel-Florensa,Pepita & Bejarano,Hernán D. & Cardona,Alejandra Quevedo, 2021. "Behavioral Insights in Infrastructure Sectors : A Survey," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9704, The World Bank.
    12. Beshears, John & Kosowsky, Harry, 2020. "Nudging: Progress to date and future directions," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 161(S), pages 3-19.
    13. Joshua Henkel & Georg Schwesinger, 2020. "Establishing Sustainable Consumption - How Future Policies Can Channel Consumer Preferences," Bremen Papers on Economics & Innovation 2007, University of Bremen, Faculty of Business Studies and Economics.
    14. Bogliacino, Francesco & Codagnone, Cristiano, 2021. "Microfoundations, behaviour, and evolution: Evidence from experiments," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 372-385.
    15. Georg Liebig & Jens Rommel, 2014. "Active and Forced Choice for Overcoming Status Quo Bias: A Field Experiment on the Adoption of “No junk mail” Stickers in Berlin, Germany," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 37(3), pages 423-435, September.
    16. Laura Abrardi, 2019. "Behavioral barriers and the energy efficiency gap: a survey of the literature," Economia e Politica Industriale: Journal of Industrial and Business Economics, Springer;Associazione Amici di Economia e Politica Industriale, vol. 46(1), pages 25-43, March.
    17. Ghesla, Claus & Grieder, Manuel & Schubert, Renate, 2020. "Nudging the poor and the rich – A field study on the distributional effects of green electricity defaults," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    18. Aydin, Erdal & Correa, Santiago Bohórquez & Brounen, Dirk, 2019. "Energy performance certification and time on the market," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    19. Becchetti, Leonardo & Salustri, Francesco & Scaramozzino, Pasquale, 2020. "Nudging and corporate environmental responsibility: A natural field experiment," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    20. Stefano Ceolotto & Eleanor Denny, 2021. "Putting a new 'spin' on energy labels: measuring the impact of reframing energy efficiency on tumble dryer choices in a multi-country experiment," Trinity Economics Papers tep1521, Trinity College Dublin, Department of Economics.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    eco-label; nudge; willingness to pay; fuel economy; experiments;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C9 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments
    • D3 - Microeconomics - - Distribution
    • Q56 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environment and Development; Environment and Trade; Sustainability; Environmental Accounts and Accounting; Environmental Equity; Population Growth
    • Q58 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environmental Economics: Government Policy

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:col:000178:014330. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Facultad de Ciencias Económicas Unal (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/funalco.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.