Replication data for: The Short-Run and Long-Run Effects of Behavioral Interventions: Experimental Evidence from Energy Conservation

Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s) Hunt Allcott; Todd Rogers

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Allcott-and-Rogers---Stata-Code			10/11/2019 07:22:PM
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Project Citation:

Allcott, Hunt, and Rogers, Todd. Replication data for: The Short-Run and Long-Run Effects of Behavioral Interventions: Experimental Evidence from Energy Conservation. Nashville, TN: American Economic Association [publisher], 2014. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2019-10-11. https://doi.org/10.3886/E112692V1

Project Description

Summary: We document three remarkable features of the Opower program, in which social comparison-based home energy reports are repeatedly mailed to more than six million households nationwide. First, initial reports cause high-frequency "action and backsliding," but these cycles attenuate over time. Second, if reports are discontinued after two years, effects are relatively persistent, decaying at 10-20 percent per year. Third, consumers are slow to habituate: they continue to respond to repeated treatment even after two years. We show that the previous conservative assumptions about post-intervention persistence had dramatically understated cost effectiveness and illustrate how empirical estimates can optimize program design.

Scope of Project

JEL Classification:
      D12 Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
      D83 Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
      L94 Electric Utilities
      Q41 Energy: Demand and Supply; Prices

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Published Versions

V1 [2019-10-11]

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DDI 2.5

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