Using field experiments to address environmental externalities and resource scarcity: major lessons learned and new directions for future research

Abstract

for thoughtful discussions that have helped shaped the way that I think about the topics covered in this manuscript. The views expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research. NBER working papers are circulated for discussion and comment purposes. They have not been peerreviewed or been subject to the review by the NBER Board of Directors that accompanies official NBER publications.

Economic Experiments as a Tool for Agricultural Policy Evaluation: Insights from the European CAP

“…We limit our review to experiments in the field of agricultural economics, even though many useful insights can be derived as well from the field of environmental policy. For recent overviews of economic experiments for environmental policies, refer to Noussair and van Soest () and Price ().…”

Running Randomized Field Experiments for Energy Efficiency Programs: A Practitioner�s Guide

“…Consumers are highly heterogeneous and value products, treatments, and savings differently, suggesting that there are many factors that affect decisionmaking around energy consumption (Houde, 2014;Allcott and Kessler, 2015;Davis and Metcalf, 2014; among many others). A range of experiments, as summarized in Price (2014) and Hahn and Metcalfe (this issue), has shown that both neo-classical factors (e.g., prices or search costs) and behavioral factors (e.g., salience or social norms) influence energy consumption. A better understanding of this decision-making process is necessary to craft policies that effectively and efficiently achieve their goals.…”

Power to the People: A New Trend in Regulation

“…The most important addition to the toolkit would be the use of controlled experimentation in the field, where customers are randomly assigned to a control group and a treatment group to test the impact of a particular policy without their knowledge (Harrison and List, 2004). 54 Such field experiments can shed light on a number of areas of interest including: estimating the demand for a particular commodity (such as water or energy), estimating the demand for environmental amenities, estimating the economic and environmental impact of subsidies and price changes, helping with bill payment, helping with the take-up of smart or efficient technology, getting customers to conserve energy in times of shortage, and in devising more complete cost-benefit calculations (Price, 2014;List and Price, 2016).…”

“…Carefully designed studies have generated important insights for both regulators and utilities. 55 For example, the first experiments in the energy sector go back to pilot studies used by the U.S. Federal Energy Administration as early as 1975 (Price, 2014). After decades of experimentation, U.S. regulators now have evidence from dozens of studies over many years and geographic regions.…”