Does the presentation of true costs at the point of purchase nudge consumers toward sustainable product options?
研究真实成本运动（TCC）在购买点显示包含社会和环境外部性的价格，能否促使消费者选择更贵的可持续产品。两项实验表明，只有当可持续产品的隐藏成本低于传统产品时，TCC才有效，且感知价格公平性解释了这一效应。
Abstract Do true cost campaigns (TCCs)—which display prices at the point of purchase that include social and environmental negative externalities—nudge consumers toward more expensive sustainable products? From a theoretical point of view, the answer is promising: Communicating true costs means introducing external reference prices that provide a benchmark for consumers to assess price acceptability. Showing true costs triggers a general reference to the price of sustainability, and the higher price of sustainable products becomes at least partially explained by their lower “hidden costs” (i.e., costs to compensate for all environmental and social impacts). In two empirical studies, we demonstrate that for TCCs to be effective, the hidden costs for the sustainable products must be lower than those for the conventional alternatives. Interestingly, under this condition, TCCs have an effect in markets characterized by a larger (study 1) and a smaller (study 2) green gap. In both studies, we find that increased perceived price fairness explains the effect of TCCs, as measured by the relative preference for the sustainable compared to the conventional product. In addition, we see that the price difference between the two products plays a significant role in forming this preference judgment, independent of other factors included in the model and especially independent of TCC.