Are Consumers Poorly Informed about Fuel Economy? Evidence from Two Experiments
通过两项实验向新车购买者提供燃油经济性信息，发现对购买车辆的平均燃油经济性无统计或经济影响，表明当前美国燃油经济性标准可能过于严格。
It is often asserted that consumers are poorly informed about and inattentive to fuel economy, causing them to buy low-fuel economy vehicles despite their own best interest. This paper presents evidence on this assertion through two experiments providing fuel economy information to new vehicle shoppers. Results show zero statistical or economic effect on average fuel economy of vehicles purchased. In the context of a simple optimal policy model, the estimates suggest that current and proposed US fuel economy standards are significantly more stringent than needed to address the classes of imperfect information and inattention addressed by our interventions.