Real World Consumer Behaviour

Real consumer behaviour relating to the purchase of environmentally preferable goods

The main aim of the project is to research and develop outputs that will persuade policy-makers across Europe of the benefits of considering behavioural economics when designing consumer-facing product policies. This project will draw together research and evidence on the real-world impact of product policies on consumer behaviour. It will review this evidence with reference to behavioural economics literature. All project outputs will be presented in a clear, policy-relevant way, in the context of consumer and environmentally-preferable product policies.

The first phase of the project is a literature review, which is intended to collate and summarise the body of international evidence and research on behavioural economics and marketing related to consumer behaviour and the purchasing of environmentally-preferable products.

The second phase of the project will be the production of a set of five product policy case studies. These will illustrate, by reference to ‘real world’ data on the impact of product policies, why behavioural economics is important. They should aim to convince the reader of the limitations of standard economics by illustrating the ways in which the observed behaviour of consumers differs from that expected by rational choice theory. The case studies should serve as stand-alone examples of why behavioural economics is important rather than explicitly detailing behavioural economic theory, and should be convincing because they are based on actual consumer responses to product policies.

The third and final stage of the project will be the production of a set of product-focussed policy briefings, intended to provide policy makers with a clear explanation of why behavioural economics is relevant to the development of effective policy in a particular product group. The briefings should encourage policy-makers throughout Europe to consider the ways in which a behavioural economics approach can aid their decision-making and inform the development of effective consumer-facing policy interventions. They are not intended to tell policy makers how they should act in any given situation, but should provide clear and concise information for use in a variety of situations during the policymaking process.

TML’s role in this project is to put together one of the five product policy case studies, including a background literature review. This case study will examine an additional differentiated CO2-purchase tax as a function of the test-cycle CO2-emission level of new vehicles to internalise the external costs of CO2.

reports

No report available yet

period

2009

funded by

European Commission, DG ENV

researchers

Kris Vanherle, Tom Voge

partners

Policy Studies Institute, BIO Intelligence Service, Ecologic Institute, GHK Consulting, Instituut voor Milieuvraagstukken, Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency

contact

Kris Vanherle

+32 16 31.77.38