Papers by Renate Schubert
Robuste Investitionsentscheidungen: Ein am Informationsstand des Entscheidungsträgers Orientiertes Entscheidungsverfahren
Springer eBooks, 1984
Die dynamische Investitionsrechnung bietet zur Behandlung des Entscheidungsproblems der Auswahl v... more Die dynamische Investitionsrechnung bietet zur Behandlung des Entscheidungsproblems der Auswahl von Investitionsprojekten bei unsicheren Erwartungen im wesentlichen zwei Arten von Entscheidungsmodellen an. Bei Risiko-Investitions-Modellen wird davon ausgegangen, das der Entscheidungstrager vollstandige Kenntnis hat uber die Wahrscheinlichkeiten, mit denen bei jedem Investitionsprojekt die verschiedenen moglichen Ergebnisse eintreten konnen. In Sicherheits-Investitions-Modellen geht man zunachst von einer festen Annahme uber die fur eine konkrete Entscheidungssituation relevante Parameterkonstellation aus. Zur Erfassung und Abschatzung des Risikos wird die auf dieser Grundlage getroffene Investitionsentscheidung dann anhand einer Sensitivitatsanalyse auf ihre Stabilitatseigenschaften gepruft.
The Effectiveness of Standard and Behavioral Policy Instruments to Steer Residential Electricity Consumption: Final report dated 30 April 2020
Social Science Research Network, 2018
Choice defaults are an increasingly popular public policy tool. Yet there is little knowledge of ... more Choice defaults are an increasingly popular public policy tool. Yet there is little knowledge of the distributional consequences of such nudges for different groups in society. We report results from an elicitation study in the residential electricity market in Switzerland in which we contrast consumers' actual contract choices under an existing default regime with the same consumers' active choices in a survey presenting the same choice-set without any default. We find that the default is successful at curbing greenhouse gas emissions, but it leads poorer households to pay more for their electricity consumption than they would want to, while leaving a significant willingness to pay for green electricity by richer households untapped.
How does risk tolerance vary with stake size? This important question cannot be adequately answer... more How does risk tolerance vary with stake size? This important question cannot be adequately answered if framing effects, nonlinear probability weighting, and heterogeneity of preference types are neglected. We show that, contrary to gains, no coherent change in relative risk aversion is observed for losses. The increase in relative risk aversion over gains cannot be captured by the curvature of the utility function. It is driven predominantly by a change in probability weighting of a majority group of individuals who exhibit more rational probability weighting at high stakes. These results not only challenge expected utility theory, but also prospect theory.
Grand Challenge, Limited Evidence: The Effect of Non-Monetary Interventions to Promote Pro-Environmental Consumer Behavior
Social Science Research Network, 2016
Policy makers worldwide are reaching a consensus about the need to develop policies with a substa... more Policy makers worldwide are reaching a consensus about the need to develop policies with a substantial impact on consumer behavior in order to meet the environmental grand challenges of this century: efficient use of scarce natural resources and climate change mitigation. Nonetheless, little consensus exists regarding which are the most effective mechanisms and policy instruments to achieve the needed changes on individual as well as aggregate level. We present a meta-analysis estimating the comparative effect of non-monetary interventions aimed at promoting three key pro-environmental consumer behaviors: energy efficiency, water efficiency, and recycling behavior. Forty-eight field experiments were deemed eligible for inclusion, targeting households (N=265,922) or single individuals (N=4,105). Results show that, on average, information and environmental appeals are not effective interventions. Both individual feedback and comparative feedback have significant small effects. Moderate effects are found for social norms. The strongest effect is estimated for decision infrastructure, removing barriers or structurally facilitating pro-environmental consumer behavior. Nonetheless, most positive effects identified are short-lived and may be overestimated due to publication bias. Our results raise the need for further large field experiments to identify the most successful ways to promote environmentally sustainable consumer behavior. In the meantime, social norms as well as removing barriers and adding structural facilitators would be a pragmatic strategy with a very low probability of producing irreversible behavioral changes going into a false, i.e. non-sustainable direction.
Social Science Research Network, Aug 1, 2006
When valuing risky prospects, people typically overweight small probabilities and underweight med... more When valuing risky prospects, people typically overweight small probabilities and underweight medium and large probabilities, but there is vast heterogeneity in individual behavior. We explore the relationship between person-specific probability weights, estimated from investment decisions in a laboratory experiment, and personal characteristics. We find considerable interaction effects with gender. While women's probability weighting is strongly and significantly susceptible to mood states, men's is not. Moreover, we show that cheerful and optimistic people weight probabilities of investment gains more favorably than do pessimistic people. People who calculate expected payoffs are less prone to probability distortions than those who do not use a lottery's expected value as a decision criterion. None of the factors studied impact subjects' valuations of monetary outcomes.
Green by default: implications of a default on subsequent behavior. Amendment to Project C: ‘Moral Licensing and Defaults’ of ‘Welfare Effects of Green Default Electricity Contracts’: Final Report
How Do Different Designs of Energy Labels Influence Purchases of Household Appliances? A Field Study in Switzerland
Ecological Economics, Feb 1, 2018
Abstract Energy labels are a key element of energy efficiency policies. They provide information ... more Abstract Energy labels are a key element of energy efficiency policies. They provide information on appliances' energy consumption and aim at increasing consumers' attention to this characteristic. A well-known example is the EU Energy Label, which is required by law to be displayed on most energy-using durables in the EU as well as in Switzerland. In cooperation with a large online retailer in Switzerland we assess the impact of the EU Energy Label and of a newly designed monetary lifetime-oriented energy label in the field. We analyze private purchases of household appliances, especially freezers, vacuum cleaners and tumble dryers. We find that the display of any of the two energy labels increases the sales proportion of energy-efficient appliances compared to the absence of any energy label. At the same time, we observe a volume-effect for freezers: The average size of purchased freezers is larger when any of the two energy labels is displayed compared to the absence of any energy label. The influence of the two different energy labels is similar except for vacuum cleaners, for which monetary information might have an adverse effect.
How Choice Complexity in Liberalized Markets Hurts the Demand for Green Electricity
Social Science Research Network, 2020
Many countries have liberalized their residential electricity markets or are considering to do so... more Many countries have liberalized their residential electricity markets or are considering to do so. Liberalization provides consumers with more freedom of choice but also leads to higher choice complexity as consumers face a much larger number of different electricity contracts to choose from. We hypothesize that consumers react to this increased choice complexity in liberalized markets by applying simplified decision strategies that allow them to reduce cognitive effort. In particular, we predict that with increasing size of choice sets, consumers focus more on simple price attributes of electricity contracts and less on the relatively complex environmental attributes, leading to a decrease in the demand for green electricity. In two online experiments conducted in a representative (n=610) and a student sample (n=1,212) in Switzerland, we find that indeed when faced with a larger choice set participants focus more on prices and choose cheaper electricity contracts containing less renewable and more conventional energy than when faced with a smaller choice set. In addition, we also find evidence that a tax on conventional energy is a more effective policy instrument for shifting demand towards renewables than behavioral instruments in the form of social norm interventions. Our results suggest that a liberalization of the household electricity market has to be carefully managed such that consumers are not overwhelmed and do not shift their demand to cheaper but less environmentally-friendly energy sources.<br>
Purchasing Energy-Efficient Appliances – To Incentivise or to Regulate?
Making energy use more sustainable and climate friendly requires a lot of different measures. Sto... more Making energy use more sustainable and climate friendly requires a lot of different measures. Stopping the growth of private households’ energy demand is one of them, and increasing the energy efficiency of electric appliances which private households purchase may be helpful in this respect. This paper identifies key reasons which hinder even environmentally friendly private households from buying energy-efficient appliances. If information about the energy efficiency of devices would be more available, better accessible and more credible, a lot could be gained. Therefore, energy labels seem to be important to change private households’ purchasing behaviour. The variety and impacts of different energy labels are studied. Incentivizing labels, indicating financial savings from energy efficient appliances, seem to be a promising instrument. The results from various empirical studies are presented and supplemented by results from an online experiment, conducted with a Swiss retailer for electric appliances. Conditions under which incentivizing labels are preferable to regulation are explored.
Sustainability standards for bioenergy – a means to reduce climate change risks
IOP conference series, Feb 1, 2009
Saving Energy in Private Households – How to Boost the Effects of Behavioral Interventions
SSRN Electronic Journal
Purchasing Energy-Efficient Appliances – To Incentivise or to Regulate?
Environmental Law and Economics, 2017
Making energy use more sustainable and climate friendly requires a lot of different measures. Sto... more Making energy use more sustainable and climate friendly requires a lot of different measures. Stopping the growth of private households’ energy demand is one of them, and increasing the energy efficiency of electric appliances which private households purchase may be helpful in this respect. This paper identifies key reasons which hinder even environmentally friendly private households from buying energy-efficient appliances. If information about the energy efficiency of devices would be more available, better accessible and more credible, a lot could be gained. Therefore, energy labels seem to be important to change private households’ purchasing behaviour. The variety and impacts of different energy labels are studied. Incentivizing labels, indicating financial savings from energy efficient appliances, seem to be a promising instrument. The results from various empirical studies are presented and supplemented by results from an online experiment, conducted with a Swiss retailer for electric appliances. Conditions under which incentivizing labels are preferable to regulation are explored.
Electricity Conservation Campaigns and High Consumption Appliances - A Field Experiment on Feedback, Goal Setting and Incentives
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2021
Singapore, like many other countries in the present world, strives for promoting energy efficienc... more Singapore, like many other countries in the present world, strives for promoting energy efficiency and reducing greenhouse gas emission. One important direction in meeting these goals is to curb households’ electricity demand, since households are one of the major consumption groups and electricity in Singapore is mostly produced from fossil fuels. In Singapore, a considerable share of households’ electricity consumption goes to airconditioning facilities which cool houses and apartments. Hence, encouraging energy-efficient behavior in airconditioning use contributes to an increase of the overall energy efficiency. It is worthwhile to look into the issue of motivating private households to reduce the usage of air-conditioning appliances and to use them efficiently. Our study focuses on this question, assuming that households’ choice of appliances is external to our study.
Willingness-To-Pay and Ranking of Preferences for Heat Mitigation Measures in Singapore
CTIT technical reports series, 2020
In many countries, Urban Heat Island (UHI) effects come along with urbanization in metropolitan a... more In many countries, Urban Heat Island (UHI) effects come along with urbanization in metropolitan areas. They have relevant adverse effects on the health and wellbeing of citizens and Singapore is strongly affected by UHI. In this study, we assess Singaporeans and Permanent Residents’ Willingness To Pay (WTP) for five different heat mitigation measures as well as their ranking of implementation preference. Specifically, we employ a double-bounded dichotomous survey design on a representative sample of 670 online respondents living in commercial and residential areas (i.e. 340 in the CDB and 330 in Punggol areas, respectively) of Singapore. The five mitigations under evaluation are related to vegetation (covered sidewalks and urban parks), shading (shaded plazas) and new technologies (electric vehicles and district cooling systems). Our results suggest that even though Punggol and CBD populations prefer the implementation of vegetation measures as the main way to improve outdoor thermal comfort and decrease UHI effect, they are willing to contribute considerable amounts of their income towards the implementation of new technologies in Singapore (i.e. electric vehicles and district cooling). This suggests the high level of people’s support and acceptance for new ways to improve thermal comfort. We find that the annual mean WTP value for the five mitigation strategies among Singapore citizens and Permanent Residents living in Punggol and CBD areas is estimated at SGD38.893 million and SGD63.922 million, respectively. The total annual WTP for both areas is estimated at SGD102.815 million, the equivalent of USD75million per year. Furthermore, demographic and socio-economic characteristics are significant determinants of Singaporeans and Permanent Residents’ WTP in Punggol and CBD. The WTP for each of the five mitigations increases with education and health but decreases with age. Additionally, people with children are willing to pay more. Additional analyses show that the level of heat awareness, positive attitudes towards heat mitigation strategies as well as preferences for outdoor activities are positively correlated with the different WTP amounts. Our findings suggest that citizens are aware of the impacts of urban heat and support mitigation measures to be financed by their taxes. Policy interventions to promote urban-heat-related education and the dissemination of related information might increase the support of heat mitigation policies
The Effectiveness of Standard and Behavioral Policy Instruments to Steer Residential Electricity Consumption: Final report dated 30 April 2020
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Papers by Renate Schubert