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- Title
Behavioral Anomalies and Energy-related Individual Choices: The Role of Status-quo Bias.
- Authors
Blasch, Julia; Daminato, Claudio
- Abstract
The literature on the energy-efficiency gap discusses the status-quo bias as a behavioral anomaly that potentially increases a household's energy consumption. We empirically investigate the extent to which the status-quo bias is linked to residential electricity consumption through two channels: non-replacement of old appliances and overuse of appliances. Using data from a large household survey conducted in three European countries, we find that our measure of status-quo bias is a significant predictor of both the age of home appliances and the level of a household's consumption of energy services. This is also reflected in the total electricity consumption, which is found to be around 6% higher when the household head is status-quo biased. We thus provide empirical evidence that the status- quo bias may represent a substantial barrier to increasing residential energy efficiency. Our findings prompt policy makers to design instruments that take this barrier into account.
- Subjects
ELECTRIC power consumption; ENERGY consumption; HOUSEHOLD appliances; HOME energy use
- Publication
Energy Journal, 2020, Vol 41, Issue 6, p181
- ISSN
0195-6574
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.5547/01956574.41.6.jbla