The Persistence of Treatment Effects with Norm-Based Policy Instruments: Evidence from a Randomized Environmental Policy Experiment

Policymakers increasingly use norm-based messages to promote conservation efforts. Despite the apparent success of such strategies, empirical analyses have thus far focused exclusively on short-run effects. From a policy perspective, however, whether and how such strategies influence behavior in the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe American economic review Vol. 101; no. 3; pp. 318 - 322
Main Authors Ferraro, Paul J., Miranda, Juan Jose, Price, Michael K.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Nashville American Economic Association 01.05.2011
Subjects
Analysis
Behavior
Conservation
Conservation programs
Consumption
Control groups
Counties
Customers
Demand
Economic theory
Economics
Energy conservation
Environmental economics
Environmental policy
Experiments
Field experiments
Households
Politics
Public policy
Social comparison
Social norms
Social psychology
Studies
Summer
Surface water
USING FIELD EXPERIMENTS IN ENVIRONMENTAL AND RESOURCE ECONOMICS
Wastewater treatment
Water consumption
Water management
Water quality
Water shortages
Water treatment
Water utilities
Water utilization
United States > US
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Summary:Policymakers increasingly use norm-based messages to promote conservation efforts. Despite the apparent success of such strategies, empirical analyses have thus far focused exclusively on short-run effects. From a policy perspective, however, whether and how such strategies influence behavior in the long-run is of equal interest. We partner with a metropolitan water utility to implement a natural field experiment examining the effect of such messages on longer-run patterns of water use. Empirical results are striking. While appeals to pro-social preferences affect short-run patterns of water use, only messages augmented with social comparisons have a lasting impact on water demand. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-2
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-1
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ISSN:0002-8282
1944-7981
DOI:10.1257/aer.101.3.318