The Short-Run and Long-Run Effects of Behavioral Interventions: Experimental Evidence from Energy Conservation
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.
Non-Technical Summaries
- At the end of four years, the average household that was still receiving [energy use] reports was taking actions equivalent to turning...
Published Versions
Allcott, Hunt, and Todd Rogers. 2014. "The Short-Run and Long-Run Effects of Behavioral Interventions: Experimental Evidence from Energy Conservation." American Economic Review, 104(10): 3003-37. DOI: 10.1257/aer.104.10.3003
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