consumer behaviour

The authors of this paper analyse flexibility in residential energy demand through a series of experiments on the adoption and usage of WiFi-enabled smart plugs in the home. Read more

The authors of this paper examined if a ‘healthy home checklist’ would nudge households to purchase a test for radon – the leading cause of lung cancer after smoking – online, and found the strategy to increase take-up but to a low extent. Read more

This paper aims to estimate the short-run impacts of air travel reductions due to COVID-19, and explores the potential for policy measures to curb demand and reduce carbon dioxide emissions beyond the lifetime of the pandemic with minimal impacts on welfare. Read more

This paper describes an experiment on a nationally representative sample of UK households that aimed to quantify resistance to smart meter adoption and test for the existence of commonly cited market failures that inhibit the adoption of energy-saving technologies. The authors measured if households would adopt a smart meter without financial compensation and, for those households unwilling to do so, the subsidy level that would be necessary to persuade them. Read more

This paper examines whether energy efficiency standards influence consumer welfare. Read more

This June, South Africa’s much-delayed carbon tax is due to be implemented, to include a new levy on petrol and diesel. Patrick Curran contests that changing consumer behaviour and reducing emissions will be very difficult without investment in viable transport alternatives – and development of a wider suite of policies to cut emissions. Read more

How realistic are the predicted savings to household energy bills from installing a smart meter? And how robust is the evidence behind the figures? Greer Gosnell and Daire McCoy investigate, in the second of two posts on smart meters. Read more

With recent reports criticising the UK Government’s rollout of its smart meter implementation programme, Greer Gosnell and Daire McCoy review the costs and benefits and call for a revamp, particularly of consumer engagement. Read more

This paper explores the relationship between carbon prices and policies that change consumers’ preferences, concluding that taking the effects into account in economic models would enhance understanding of climate change mitigation policy, facilitating the transition to a low-carbon economy. Read more

Abstract In a large-scale natural field experiment comprising 38,654 customers of a renewable energy supplier in the United Kingdom, we... Read more