Heterogeneous Effects of Informational Nudges on Pro-social Behavior Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • Abstract Numerous experimental studies of informational nudges both in the lab and the field have demonstrated not just that informational nudges are effective policy tools for influencing behavior, but also that nudges have heterogeneous impacts that differ depending on the characteristics of the person involved and the situation. We adapt Andreonis theory of warm-glow impure altruism to account for how altruism motives respond differently depending on the disposition of the person and the situation. The model explains both positive spillovers (moral cleansing) and negative spillovers (moral licensing) for behavioral interventions, showing that targeting of informational campaigns depends on the complementarity between peoples traits and the interventions content. More importantly, the design of economic incentives (like Pigouvian taxes) to shift economic behavior should depend on both the distribution of social preferences in the population and the use of behavioral interventions.

published proceedings

  • B E JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ANALYSIS & POLICY

altmetric score

  • 1

author list (cited authors)

  • Bao, J., & Ho, B.

citation count

  • 11

complete list of authors

  • Bao, Jiayi||Ho, Benjamin

publication date

  • October 2015