Ximeng Fang

[Published version]

Abstract: Energy efficiency improvements can play an important role in reducing emissions from residential buildings, yet consumer decisions involving energy costs can be subject to bounded rationality due to, e.g., inattention and myopia. We present evidence that long-term, high-stakes decisions in the housing market are influenced by short-term contextual factors. Using data on housing transactions through a large online platform in Germany, we document that houses purchased following unusually cold weather tend to be more energy efficient, while the reverse is not true for unusually warm weather. This asymmetry suggests that the effect of temperature fluctuations on energy efficiency demand may be driven by salience of heating costs.

[Published version] [Working paper, 2021] [Data and code available upon request]

Abstract: Behavioral policy often aims at overcoming biases due to, e.g., imperfect information or inattention. When there are multiple sources of bias, interventions targeting different sources each may be complements: each intervention becomes more effective when combined with others. We test this in a field experiment on energy conservation in a resource-intensive everyday activity (showering). One intervention, shower energy reports, primarily improves knowledge about environmental impacts; another intervention, real-time feedback, primarily increases salience of resource use. While only the latter reduced energy consumption when implemented in isolation, combining both interventions boosted this conservation effect by over 50%, indicating a striking complementarity.

[Published version] [Working paper, 2021] [Public data]

Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic induces a social dilemma: engaging in preventive health behaviors is costly for individuals but generates benefits that also accrue to society at large. The extent to which individuals internalize the social impact of their actions may depend on their prosociality, i.e., the willingness to behave in a way that mostly benefits other people. We conduct a nationally representative online survey in Germany (N = 5,843) to investigate the role of prosociality in reducing the spread of COVID-19 during the second coronavirus wave. At the individual level, higher prosociality is strongly positively related to compliance with public health behaviors such as mask wearing and social distancing. A one standard deviation (SD) increase in prosociality is associated with a 0.3 SD increase in compliance (p < 0.01). At the regional (NUTS-2) level, a one SD higher average prosociality is associated with an 11% lower weekly incidence rate (p < 0.01), and a 2%p lower weekly growth rate (p < 0.01) of COVID-19 cases, controlling for a host of demographic and socio-economic factors. This association is driven by higher compliance with public health behaviors in regions with higher prosociality. Our correlational results thus support the common notion that voluntary behavioral change plays a vital role in fighting the pandemic and, more generally, that social preferences may determine collective action outcomes of a society.