Séminaire

Instrument Choice and Motivation: Evidence from a Climate Change Experiment

Timo Goeschl (University of Heidelberg)

7 décembre 2009, 11h00–12h30

Toulouse

Salle MH 205

Environmental Economics Seminar

Résumé

Are prices or quantities the best regulatory instrument to align private actions with public interests in the presence of externalities? We add another dimension to this ongoing debate by experimentally analyzing the interaction between instrument choice and intrinsic motivation of regulated agents. The response of subjects facing a trade-off between real CO2 emissions and private monetary payoffs to both a price and a quantity instrument are tested. We find evidence that taxes crowd out intrinsic motivation while emission standards are neutral. Crowding is short term persistent and not well explained by established cognitive theories of motivational crowding.

Codes JEL

  • C91: Laboratory, Individual Behavior
  • H23: Externalities • Redistributive Effects • Environmental Taxes and Subsidies
  • H41: Public Goods
  • Q54: Climate • Natural Disasters • Global Warming

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