How effective is the European Union energy label? Evidence from a real-stakes experiment
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 15544873 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Mark Andor (0000-0003-1075-8707, RWI – Leibniz Institute for Economic Research), Andreas Gerster (0000-0001-8539-9839, University of Mannheim, corresponding author), Lorenz Götte (University of Bonn) |
| Year | 2019 |
| Volume | 14 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 044001-044001 |
| Publication date | 2019-03-20 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Environmental Research Letters (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1748-9326 • E-ISSN: 1748-9326 |
| Publisher | IOP Publishing (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1088/1748-9326/ab05fe |
| OpenAlex | W2923191803 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 1 |
Imperfect information and inattention can lead consumers to undervalue the energy efficiency of products, contributing to growing environmental problems and climate change. To nudge individuals towards energy efficiency, environmental certification schemes, such as the European Union (EU) energy label, present grade-like efficiency classes. In a real-stakes randomized controlled trial, we contrast this approach with a control condition that gives no energy-related information and an alternative treatment condition that provides detailed information on the lifetime cost of energy-using durables. Our results show that the EU energy label does not increase demand for energy-efficient products over a control condition. By contrast, lifetime-cost information increases the willingness-topay for energy efficiency considerably
Certification · Contrast (vision · Control (management · Economics · Efficient energy use · Energy (signal processing · Energy policy · Environmental economics · European union · International trade · Microeconomics · Perfect information · Renewable energy · Willingness to pay · Computer Science · Energy Efficiency and Management · Energy, Environment, and Transportation Policies · Engineering · Environmental Sustainability in Business
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |