Seminar

Solarize: a behavioral policy intervention to increase the adoption of solar photovoltaic systems

Stefan Lamp (Toulouse School of Economics)

May 21, 2019, 12:45–13:45

Toulouse

Room MS 003

Abstract

A growing literature points to the importance of social interactions and nudges in influencing economic outcomes. An often overlooked factor when determining the success of behavioral interventions are supply-side market conditions. This talk focuses on the impact of exogenously-varied competition on equilibrium prices and quantities in the market for residential solar photovoltaic panels. We alter the specifications of the large-scale policy intervention by allowing either one or multiple firms to operate through the program in randomly-allocated markets. Our findings confirm the classic result that an increase in competition lowers prices and increases demand, both during the intervention and afterwards. Using the campaign to exogenously shift the long-run number of competitors, we estimate an elasticity of between -0.11 and -0.14 for the effect of the number of competitors on equilibrium prices after the campaigns conclude. The persistence of these effects in the post-intervention period highlights the value of facilitating competition in behavioral interventions.

Reference

Stefan Lamp (Toulouse School of Economics), Solarize: a behavioral policy intervention to increase the adoption of solar photovoltaic systems, IAST Lunch Seminar, Toulouse: IAST, May 21, 2019, 12:45–13:45, room MS 003.