Are Consumers Poorly Informed about Fuel Economy? Evidence from Two Experiments
It is often asserted that consumers are poorly informed about and inattentive to fuel economy, causing them to buy low-fuel economy vehicles despite their own best interest. This paper presents evidence on this assertion through two experiments providing fuel economy information to new vehicle shopp...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
American Economic Association
2021
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/130334 |
| _version_ | 1811068491804966912 |
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| author | Allcott, Hunt Knittel, Christopher Roland |
| author2 | Sloan School of Management |
| author_facet | Sloan School of Management Allcott, Hunt Knittel, Christopher Roland |
| author_sort | Allcott, Hunt |
| collection | MIT |
| description | It is often asserted that consumers are poorly informed about and inattentive to fuel economy, causing them to buy low-fuel economy vehicles despite their own best interest. This paper presents evidence on this assertion through two experiments providing fuel economy information to new vehicle shoppers. Results show zero statistical or economic effect on average fuel economy of vehicles purchased. In the context of a simple optimal policy model, the estimates suggest that current and proposed US fuel economy standards are significantly more stringent than needed to address the classes of imperfect information and inattention addressed by our interventions. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T07:56:46Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/130334 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T07:56:46Z |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| publisher | American Economic Association |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1303342022-09-30T01:12:06Z Are Consumers Poorly Informed about Fuel Economy? Evidence from Two Experiments Allcott, Hunt Knittel, Christopher Roland Sloan School of Management It is often asserted that consumers are poorly informed about and inattentive to fuel economy, causing them to buy low-fuel economy vehicles despite their own best interest. This paper presents evidence on this assertion through two experiments providing fuel economy information to new vehicle shoppers. Results show zero statistical or economic effect on average fuel economy of vehicles purchased. In the context of a simple optimal policy model, the estimates suggest that current and proposed US fuel economy standards are significantly more stringent than needed to address the classes of imperfect information and inattention addressed by our interventions. 2021-04-01T15:43:40Z 2021-04-01T15:43:40Z 2019-02 2021-03-29T16:19:04Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 1945-7731 1945-774X https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/130334 Allcott, Hunt and Christopher Knittel. "Are Consumers Poorly Informed about Fuel Economy? Evidence from Two Experiments." AEJ: Economic Policy 11, 1 (February 2019): 1-37. © 2019 American Economic Association en http://dx.doi.org/10.1257/pol.20170019 AEJ: Economic Policy Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. application/pdf American Economic Association American Economic Association |
| spellingShingle | Allcott, Hunt Knittel, Christopher Roland Are Consumers Poorly Informed about Fuel Economy? Evidence from Two Experiments |
| title | Are Consumers Poorly Informed about Fuel Economy? Evidence from Two Experiments |
| title_full | Are Consumers Poorly Informed about Fuel Economy? Evidence from Two Experiments |
| title_fullStr | Are Consumers Poorly Informed about Fuel Economy? Evidence from Two Experiments |
| title_full_unstemmed | Are Consumers Poorly Informed about Fuel Economy? Evidence from Two Experiments |
| title_short | Are Consumers Poorly Informed about Fuel Economy? Evidence from Two Experiments |
| title_sort | are consumers poorly informed about fuel economy evidence from two experiments |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/130334 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT allcotthunt areconsumerspoorlyinformedaboutfueleconomyevidencefromtwoexperiments AT knittelchristopherroland areconsumerspoorlyinformedaboutfueleconomyevidencefromtwoexperiments |