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on Nudge and Boosting |
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Issue of 2026–07–13
two papers chosen by Marco Novarese, Università degli Studi del Piemonte Orientale |
| By: | John A. List; Matthias Rodemeier; Sutanuka Roy; Gregory Sun |
| Abstract: | Behavioral interventions have become central to modern public policy, but their empirical promise remains contested because estimated treatment effects often appear small. We argue that a policy response is economically meaningful only relative to the response generated by alternative policies. We assemble more than 1, 200 estimates from over 600 studies comparing "nudges" and traditional price interventions in the markets for cigarettes, alcohol, influenza vaccination, electricity, and residential water. Translating nudge effects into equivalent price changes, we find that behavioral interventions often correspond to enormous fiscal interventions, from an 11% tax on electricity to a 100% subsidy on influenza vaccinations. Nudges are also more cost-effective than price instruments in all markets, but cost-effectiveness does not predict the welfare ranking of policies. Using a behavioral extension of the Marginal Value of Public Funds, we show that nudges have high welfare returns at the margin, while price instruments often generate larger total surplus at scale. |
| Keywords: | nudges, paternalistic taxes, welfare, energy efficiency, water conservation, influenza vaccination, cigarettes, alcohol consumption, RCTs |
| JEL: | D61 D83 H21 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12775 |
| By: | Armando Holzknecht; Rene Schwaiger; Esther Blanco; Jürgen Huber; Michael Kirchler; co-authors |
| Abstract: | A carbon price is an effective and cost-efficient policy to mitigate emissions, yet low public acceptance and limited political support remain major barriers to its widespread implementation. This crowd-sourced “many-designs” project presents results from 55 behavioral interventions on real-world support for carbon pricing, independently developed by international research teams. By implementing the interventions simultaneously with almost 20, 000 U.S. residents, this pre-registered study shows very small positive but statistically significant effects of behavioral interventions on real-world support, and stated support, including the willingness to endorse a carbon price that internalizes the social costs of $120 per ton of CO2 emissions (Cohen’s d’s: 10 0.04–0.08; between 1.1–2.4 percentage points in increased support across outcomes). Further-more, the results reveal low-to-medium between-study heterogeneity (ͳ: 0.07–0.12). Lastly, we identify strong overconfidence among research teams regarding the expected effects of their interventions and those of their peers, indicating a miscalibration of community expectations. |
| Keywords: | Meta-science, Behavioral Interventions, Climate Science |
| Date: | 2026–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:inn:wpaper:2026-06 |