Consumer Myopia in Vehicle Purchases: Evidence from a Natural Experiment
利用燃油经济性评级重述这一自然实验，发现消费者在购车时对未来燃油成本的估值远低于实际折现值，表现出短视行为。
A central question in the analysis of fuel economy policy is whether consumers are myopic with regards to future fuel costs. We provide the first evidence on the consumer valuation of fuel economy from a natural experiment that provides exogenous variation in fuel economy ratings. We examine the short-run equilibrium effects of a restatement of fuel economy ratings that affected 1.6 million vehicles. Using the implied changes in willingness to pay, we find that consumers act myopically: consumers are indifferent between $1.00 in discounted fuel costs and $0. 16–0.39 in the purchase price when discounting at 4 percent. This undervaluation persists under a wide range of assumptions.