TY - JOUR
T1 - Paternalism and Energy Efficiency
T2 - An Overview
AU - Allcott, Hunt
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© Copyright 2016 by Annual Reviews. All rights reserved.
PY - 2016/10/31
Y1 - 2016/10/31
N2 - This article provides an overview of the application of behavioral public economics to energy efficiency. I document policy makers' arguments for "paternalistic" energy efficiency policies, formalize with a simple model of misoptimizing consumers, review and critique empirical evidence, and suggest future research directions. Although empirical results suggest that policies to address imperfect information and internalities may increase welfare in some cases, some existing policies may be mistargeted or miscalibrated.
AB - This article provides an overview of the application of behavioral public economics to energy efficiency. I document policy makers' arguments for "paternalistic" energy efficiency policies, formalize with a simple model of misoptimizing consumers, review and critique empirical evidence, and suggest future research directions. Although empirical results suggest that policies to address imperfect information and internalities may increase welfare in some cases, some existing policies may be mistargeted or miscalibrated.
KW - Behavioral public economics
KW - Energy efficiency
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84994608348&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84994608348&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1146/annurev-economics-080315-015255
DO - 10.1146/annurev-economics-080315-015255
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:84994608348
SN - 1941-1383
VL - 8
SP - 145
EP - 176
JO - Annual Review of Economics
JF - Annual Review of Economics
ER -