Energy efficiency and choice experiments.

Stated preference methods such as stated choice experiments are increasingly used for assessing governmental policies. A typical concern with these non-market valuation methods is whether the results are a reliable reflection of household preferences and whether stated choices are time consistent. Moreover, use of these methods is complicated by several systematic biases that influence consumer decision making in practice. For instance, an extensive literature has recognized that respondents may only consider a subset of the attributes of choice alternatives. Ignoring this so-called attribute nonattendance may lead to biased willingness-to-pay estimates.
Information dissemination is an often used policy instrument. Information programs vary greatly, both in terms of method and implementation. In the context of residential investment decisions in energy efficiency measures, we study the impact of different framings (manipulation of the information set available to households) of antecedent information programs on the time consistency of the stated choices. Furthermore, as attribute nonattendance may be caused by a lack of information about certain attributes, we also study how these information programs affect the attributes or attribute levels attended to by decision takers and thus maybe also the valuation estimates.
Besides these methodological issues, we also focus on two, more practical, research questions: i) what is the impact of antecedent information provision on household energy investment decisions, and ii) can the efficacy of information dissemination policies be improved.