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on Nudge and Boosting |
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Issue of 2023‒10‒23
three papers chosen by |
| By: | González, María P.; Scartascini, Carlos |
| Abstract: | Patients are reluctant to use telemedicine health services. Telemedicine is an “experience good, ” one that can be accurately evaluated and compared to its substitute (in this case, in-person visits) only after the product has been adopted and experienced. As such, an intervention that increases the probability of a first experience can have lasting effects. This article reports the results of a randomized field experiment conducted in collaboration with a health insurance company in Argentina. During the intervention, about two thousand households with no previous experience with telemedicine received periodic e-mails with information about the available services. It effectively increased the take-up and demand for telemedicine. Within the first eight months of the experiment, patients assigned to the treatment group were 6pp more likely to have used the service at least once (12pp higher for those who opened at least one e-mail.) This first use led to large cumulative effects over time. After eight months, the number of virtual consultations by the treatment group was six times larger than those of the control group. These results provide additional evidence about how information interventions can increase technological take-up within the health sector and add to the understanding of how behavioral barriers affect patients resistance to technological adoption. |
| Keywords: | behavioral biases;Field experiment;Telemedicine;health |
| JEL: | I11 I13 D83 C93 |
| Date: | 2023–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:brikps:12850&r=nud |
| By: | Toshi H. Arimura (Waseda University.); Yukihiko Funaki (Waseda University.); Hajime Katayama (Waseda University.); Atsushi Morimoto (North Asia University.); Hiroko Okajima (Nagoya University.); Shigeharu Okajima (Osaka University of Economics.) |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this study is to measure the pure conservation effect of moral incentives and investigate their potential to reduce energy conservation in non-household sectors. Focusing on the overlap between moral and economic incentives, we employ a field experiment at a hotel to separate moral incentives from economic incentives. We find that although the pure conservation effect of moral incentives was insignificant, moral incentives did reduce hotel guests’ electricity use by 10.3% when saved money in conservation was donated to an environmental protection organization. The result indicates that when we use moral incentives in non-household sectors, it is beneficial to spend saved money for environmental protection to gain people’s support for conservation requests. |
| Keywords: | Energy conservation, Moral incentive, Field experiment |
| JEL: | Q41 Q48 D12 D91 L94 |
| Date: | 2023–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:was:dpaper:2302&r=nud |
| By: | Mr. Serhan Cevik; Kelly Gao |
| Abstract: | The world is not decarbonizing fast enough, with global warming on track to reach as much as 4°C over the next century absent a global green transition. Policymakers in Europe—and beyond—still have an opportunity both to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 and to strengthen economic prospects by increasing energy efficiency, along with changing the energy mix from fossil fuels to renewables. In this paper, we assess energy efficiency (or intensity) in a panel of 38 European countries over the period 1980–2021 by using the stochastic frontier analysis and obtain statistically significant and intuitive results. We have two key findings. First, price signals, including through the introduction of a carbon tax and the removal of fossil fuel subsidies, are critical for energy efficiency, as consumers respond to changes in energy prices. Second, stronger environmental policies and institutions generate unambiguous improvements in energy efficiency by inducing investment in energy efficient equipment and buildings and nudging consumers for energy conservation. These results—robust to alternative specifications and methods—have important policy implications for green growth with higher energy efficiency. |
| Keywords: | Energy consumption; energy efficiency; stochastis frontier analysis; Europe |
| Date: | 2023–09–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:2023/198&r=nud |