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on Nudge and Boosting |
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Issue of 2026–01–12
eight papers chosen by Marco Novarese, Università degli Studi del Piemonte Orientale |
| By: | Rosokha, Yaroslav; Wu, Steven Y. |
| Abstract: | Behavioral nudges have come under recent scrutiny due to meta-analyses showing that the impact of nudges may be over-stated in academic studies relative to scaled nudges conducted by government nudge units. Unfortunately, the economics literature provides few, if any, theoretical mechanisms for understanding the limits of behavioral nudges. We develop a theoretical model, which examines behavioral nudges from the perspective of an incentive design problem, where discrete choice architecture strategies are used rather than monetary incentives. We propose that nudge incentive power should satisfy incentive compatibility conditions. This provides researchers with a clear theoretical mechanism for understanding when we should expect nudges to induce a response and when they might have muted effects across different contexts. We also highlight that when the social planner has a “common value” payoff function and consumers are heterogeneous, even a nudge that appears successful in inducing a response at the population level may not increase welfare. This is because a nudge is likely to induce a larger response from non-targeted subgroups rather than the targed subgroup. This creates an illusion of success where distortions are created with the non-targeted group while generating only weak or no response from the targeted group. Finally, we show that an optimal monetary based contract can induce targeted subgroups to respond while not creating distortions by the non-targeted subgroup. |
| Keywords: | Institutional and Behavioral Economics |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea25:360714 |
| By: | Tinnefeld, Vicky; Kesternich, Martin; Werthschulte, Madeline |
| Abstract: | Urged by the European Energy Crisis and the threatening consequences of severe natural gas shortages, energy providers launched gas-saving initiatives incorporating financial incentives to reduce residential natural gas consumption. In collaboration with one of Germany's largest energy providers, we conducted a natural field experiment (N = 2, 598) to evaluate the effectiveness of a behaviorally-guided co-design of such a gas-saving initiative by implementing two established behavioral instruments - reminders of gas saving intentions and descriptive norm feedback. Our findings show limited effectiveness of the behavioural instruments during the high-price period. The feedback risks a "boomerang effect" among households with above-average initial savings, who reduce their conservation efforts in response. The reminder does not significantly enhance savings in our main specifications, yet, realizes 1 percentage point savings in alternate models refining for outliers. Potential mechanisms include a significant intention-action gap and misperceived effectiveness of energy-saving actions, which are not alleviated by the reminder. |
| Keywords: | Residential energy savings, energy crisis, behavioral interventions, survey data, field experiment |
| JEL: | C93 D04 D91 Q41 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:333899 |
| By: | Fan, Hao; Wang, Jingjing; Fan, Shenggen |
| Abstract: | This study examines the effects of two interventions—information and commitment—on food waste behaviors among students in university canteen, along with the underlying socio-psychological mechanisms. The informational intervention involves providing students with details about the environmental impact of food waste, while the commitment intervention encourages students to sign a pledge to reduce waste after receiving similar information. The experiment conducted in two university canteens in China reveals that information alone has a limited effect on students’ food- waste behavior, whereas the combined intervention of information and commitment significantly reduces food waste. Further analysis indicates that the effectiveness of the commitment intervention varied across gender, dining pattern, and policy awareness, highlighting the importance of tailoring future interventions to account for the heterogeneity within the student population. Mechanism analysis identifies three key socio-psychological factors—attitude, subject norms, and perceived behavioral control—that play significant roles in food-waste behaviors. Notably, the interaction between attitude and commitment interventions is positively associated with students’ food waste behavior, likely due to the triggering of students’ psychological reactance, or a backlash effect, as students seemed to rebel against the imposed commitment. This study provides a theoretical foundation for food waste interventions in higher education institutions and highlights the importance of combining strategies, addressing socio-psychological factors, and tailoring approaches to individual and group characteristics. |
| Keywords: | Institutional and Behavioral Economics |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea25:360814 |
| By: | Takeshi Ojima; Shinsuke Ikeda |
| Abstract: | If dishonest behavior stems from a self-control problem, then offering the option to commit to honesty will reduce dishonesty, provided that it lowers the self-control costs of being honest. To test this theoretical prediction, we conducted an incentivized online experiment in which participants could cheat at a game of rock-paper-scissors. Treatment groups were randomly or invariably offered a hard Honesty-Commitment Option (HCO), which could be used to prevent cheating. Our between- and within-subject analyses reveal that the HCO provision significantly reduced cheating rates by approximately 64%. Evidence suggests that the commitment device works by lowering self-control costs, which is more pronounced in individuals with low cognitive reflection, rather than by an observer effect. Further analyses reveal two key dynamics. First, an individual’s frequency of not using the HCO reliably predicts their propensity to cheat when the option is unavailable. Second, repeatedly deciding not to use the commitment device can become habitual, diminishing the HCO provision’s effect in reducing cheating over time. This research highlights the effectiveness of honesty-commitment devices in policy design while also noting that their disuse can become habitual, pointing to a new dynamic in the study of cheating. |
| Date: | 2025–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dpr:wpaper:1295 |
| By: | Sapio, Silvia; Caso, Gerarda; Annunziata, Azzurra; Vecchioa, Riccardo |
| Abstract: | To satisfy consumer demand for convenient, tasty, and inexpensive products, Ultra Processed Foods (UPFs) have become increasingly prevalent in many countries worldwide. This rise in UPFs consumption can however contribute to several health issues, particularly among low-income groups, who are more susceptible to making unhealthy food purchases. Nudging is an approach that aims to influence consumer behavior toward desired outcomes. In the context of a digital environment, the swap suggests healthier alternatives when an individual selects an unhealthy food option. Herein, an experiment was conducted on 810 low-income Italians responsible for household food purchases, who were asked to select a main and side dish in an online supermarket. When UPFs were selected, a food swap was proposed, offering a minimally processed alternative. Results provide evidence that a food swap can reduce the selection of UPFs among low-income consumers and identify specific individual factors that influence the effectiveness of a food swap among this target population. Specifically, 23% of participants accepted the swap, and younger males, with higher UPFs consumption levels and lower reactance, were more likely to follow the nudge, suggesting the potential for targeted interventions in the digital environment. |
| Keywords: | Institutional and Behavioral Economics |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea25:360813 |
| By: | Melo, Grace; Palma, Marco; Chomali, Laura; Ribera, Luis |
| Abstract: | Being able to accurately predict the marketing effectiveness of product labels is critical for business profitability. Do industry experts (e.g., domain-specific and domain-general marketers) understand and accurately predict which messages appeal most to consumers? There is limited knowledge in this area, specifically around two essential food attributes: health and taste. Consumers perceive health and taste as trade-offs, which makes their reaction to such marketing information challenging to forecast. This study is the first to quantify the extent to which domain-general vs domain-specific experts can accurately predict consumer responses to health and taste information via marketing labels. We conducted three incentivized studies: Study 1 investigated consumer preferences for simple health versus taste labeling messages with actual consumers. Study 2 uncovered industry domain-specific ‘industry experts’ predictions for average consumers’ willingness-to-pay (WTP) for the messages providing incentives for accuracy. Study 3 employs domain-general ‘marketing experts’ (cross-industry) and evaluates the role of market intelligence in improving consumer valuation forecasts. We found that while both expert types made optimistic predictions that marketing health-related information would effectively increase consumer valuations, consumers did not respond to such information. Moreover, despite exhibiting greater confidence in their predictions than domain-general experts (63% vs 70%), domain-specific industry experts overestimated consumer valuations by 33% relative to the average consumer WTP of $6.80 for an 8 oz. bag of pecans. In contrast, domain-general experts overestimated consumer valuations by only 5%, suggesting possible motivated reasoning among industry-specific experts. Releasing market intelligence to domain-general experts for the baseline valuation (control) improved the accuracy of the forecast for the control, but forecasting inaccuracies for specific labeling messages prevailed. |
| Keywords: | Institutional and Behavioral Economics |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea25:360812 |
| By: | Christina Timko; Maja Adena (WZB Berlin & TU Berlin) |
| Abstract: | Behavioral design in smartphone apps aims at inducing certain, monetizable behavior, mainly increased engagement, measurable by usage time. Such design is rarely transparent and often restricts users’ ability to make alternative choices. In a framed field experiment, we document that behavioral design doubles app usage time compared to a version without behavioral elements. Providing users with choices—simply explained and conveniently adjustable design features—reduces usage time and increases their willingness to pay for the app. These findings suggest that offering choice could pave the way for new business models based on more responsible app design. |
| Keywords: | smartphone app; behavioral control; filtering algorithm; transparency and choice; self-determination; corporate social responsibility; field experiment; |
| JEL: | C93 O33 D83 L86 M14 |
| Date: | 2026–01–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rco:dpaper:559 |
| By: | Gustafson, Christopher R. |
| Abstract: | We conducted an experiment on the choice of plant-based vs. animal-source frozen patties and burgers in a complex (50 unique products) choice environment. We examined the impact of two variations in the choice environment on the choice of plant-based vs. animal-source burgers: the prevalence of plant-burgers (20% vs. 30%) and the presence (or not) of a filter enabling participants to easily find pulse-based burger products. Further, we examined individual-specific drivers of choice outcomes, and we introduced a novel application of ecological momentary assessment (EMA) to identify choice outcomes that participants were actively (cognitively) modelling during the choice process in terms of the product alternatives in the choice environment. These outcomes included taste, cost, health, environment, among others. We examined the impact of these EMA variables alongside more traditional measures of consumer priorities, beliefs, and habits. We find a small percentage of plant-based choices in conditions without the filter (approximately 10%), with no meaningful difference between the low and high prevalence conditions. The proportion of plant-based choices more closely resemble retail data than outcomes of recent choice experiments, which predict plant-based choices to be around 30%. However, when the filter is present, the proportion of plant-based choices is approximately 30%. We find evidence that EMA can be a useful tool to understand consumer cognition during choice. Participants actively considering health or the environment were significantly more likely to choose plant-based options, while individuals reporting active consideration of taste or price were significantly more likely to choose meat-based alternatives. |
| Keywords: | Consumer/Household Economics |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea25:361146 |