Authors: Marcel Seifert, Stefan Palan, Florian Spitzer, Erich Kirchler, Katharina Gangl
Key findings:
Educational tools (quizzes, videos, brochures) increase sustainable investment by up to 15pp.
Sustainable finance literacy (SFL) predicts lower investment in greenwashed products.
Default nudges change behavior but don’t improve understanding and reduce self-efficacy.
Abstract:
We conduct a large-scale framed field experiment (N = 1,790) to compare brief sustainable finance literacy (SFL) interventions with an automated default nudge. Educational tools (quizzes, videos, brochures) increase literacy by up to 15 percentage points and boost sustainable investments; videos and quizzes also raise stock market participation. Default nudges change behavior but do not improve understanding and self-efficacy. Higher SFL predicts lower investment in greenwashed products, although many participants do not adjust their behavior in response to greenwashing disclosures. Our results highlight the power of targeted education—and the limits of non-informational nudges—for sustainable finance and ESG policy goals.
Presented at: 40th Workshop of the Austrian Working Group on Banking and Finance (Innsbruck, AT), Society for Experimental Finance Conference (Maastricht, NL), Maastricht Behavioral Economic Policy Symposium (Maastricht, NL), Italian-Danish-Austrian Behavioral Finance and ESG Network (online), Finance Research Day Graz (online),
Sustainable finance literacy predicts investment behavior beyond general financial literacy: Evidence from two representative samples
Seifert et al. (2025) - Working paper (revise & resubmit)
Abstract. Sustainable finance literacy (SFL) is emerging as an essential complement to traditional financial literacy, crucial for enhancing sustainable investments that play a key role in addressing climate change and enabling individuals to avoid greenwashed products. In two large-scale studies with representative Austrian samples (N = 1,047; N = 1,510), we introduce a comprehensive SFL inventory and demonstrate its predictive power for investment behavior in both an incentivized framed field experiment and in self-reported investment behavior. Individuals with higher SFL made greater sustainable and non-sustainable stock market investments, and were more adept at identifying and avoiding potentially greenwashed products. Furthermore, SFL demonstrated more explanatory power than did general financial literacy, for both experienced investors and non-investors. Our findings underscore the need for enhanced SFL education and policy measures to foster the growth of sustainable finance and safeguard investors from deceptive sustainability claims.
🏆 Best Paper Award (Sustainability), BFGA 2024 Conference
Representative Personalities? A large-scale field experiment on a citizen assembly in Austria
Bechtold, Gangl, Ibanez, Riener & Seifert (2024) - Working paper
Abstract. Citizen Assemblies are a popular direct democratic instrument but are often criticized for not being representative of the population. A Citizen assembly consists of randomly invited citizens who can self-select into participation. We present a large-scale field experiment in Austria, showing that under standard invitation rules participants are indeed not representative in terms of an important trait: Locus of control. We devise an intervention where we vary the invitation letter in two treatments, deviating to emphasize either personal experiences (“Experience” treatment) or the importance of personal perspectives by stressing the need of different opinions hence rendering those more valuable (“voice” treatment), rather than the requirement to bring own ideas. The voice treatment increases the number of applicants and makes the assembly more representative in terms of Locus of Control.
Bridging the Heating Transition Gap: Household Investments under Subjective Uncertainty (with B. Hartl, C. Kimmich & S. Palan) - Proposal submitted (PI: M. Seifert, €295.000)
→ The project aims to investigate why households delay replacing fossil heating systems despite subsidies and positive returns. It focuses on subjective expectations and uncertainty and will use surveys, choice experiments, and field experiments to study adoption behavior and policy interventions.
Promoting smart energys use. A behavioral economics study (with K. Gangl & B. Hartl) - Analysis stage.
→ Online experiment testing determinants and behavioral interventions that promote flexible energy use among households.
Beliefs, Preferences, Behaviors, and Knowledge: A Study of Sustainable Finance Literacy Among Dutch Individuals (with Z. Ding, Ter Ellen, S., J. Goossens & S. Zeisberger) - Draft in progress.
→ The project surveys sustainable finance literacy (SFL) in the Netherlands, showing that while basic concepts like greenwashing are widely known, technical knowledge remains limited; SFL aligns with financial literacy and subjective self-assessments, and is related to different beliefs.
Sustainable finance literacy is associated with more ESG investments and higher participation in the stock market
Policy brief (in German), 2024 - with K. Gangl - Based on Seifert et al. (2025), Working paper
Cleanliness in waste disposal areas: The role of nature pictures, infrastructure and residents’ other-managing behavior
Research report (in German), 2023 - with K. Gangl, A. Knaub & A. Walter - Based on Gangl et al. (2025), Journal of Environmental Psychology
Energy crisis – what to do? Behavioral science recommendations
Policy brief (in German), 2022 - with K. Gangl, K. Abstiens, E. Gsottbauer, E. Kirchler, G. Riener & A. Walter
Why knowledge does not always lead to action: An experimental study on barriers to climate-friendly behavior in the laboratory and in the field
Research report (in German), 2021 - with R. Hoffmann & G. Kanitsar - Based on Hoffmann, Kanitsar & Seifert (2024), Ecological Economics
Can information provision and preference elicitation promote ESG investments? Evidence from a large, incentivized online experiment
Seifert et al. (2024), Journal of Banking and Finance (2024)
→ Evidence from a large experiment with investors shows that both financial return and ESG impact information significantly increase sustainable investments, while elicitation modes play a minor role.
Behavioral barriers impede pro-environmental decision-making: Experimental evidence from incentivized laboratory and vignette studies
Hoffmann, Kanitsar & Seifert (2024), Ecological Economics (2024)
→ Using incentivized experiments, the study identifies immediacy, uncertainty, and marginality as key barriers explaining why individuals often fail to act on their pro-environmental values.
Nature posters enhance subjective but not objective cleanness in public housing: Evidence from a field experiment
Gangl, Seifert, Van Lange & Pahl (2025), Journal of Environmental Psychology (2025)
→ A large field experiment in Vienna shows that nature posters improve residents’ perceived cleanliness but not actual cleanliness, highlighting the psychological impact of subtle environmental cues.