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MOTIVATION CROWDING IN REAL CONSUMPTION DECISIONS: WHO IS MESSING WITH MY GROCERIES?
Author(s) -
PERINO GRISCHA,
PANZONE LUCA A.,
SWANSON TIMOTHY
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
economic inquiry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.823
H-Index - 72
eISSN - 1465-7295
pISSN - 0095-2583
DOI - 10.1111/ecin.12024
Subject(s) - subsidy , crowding out , economics , purchasing , consumption (sociology) , microeconomics , crowding , intervention (counseling) , intrinsic motivation , monetary economics , psychology , social psychology , market economy , operations management , social science , neuroscience , psychiatry , sociology
We present evidence of crowding out of intrinsic motivation in real purchasing decisions from a field experiment in a large supermarket chain. We compare three instruments, a label, a subsidy, and a neutral price change, in their ability to induce consumers to switch from dirty to clean products. Interestingly, a subsidy framed as an intervention is less effective than either a label or a neutrally framed price change. We argue that this provides a new explanation for crowding behavior: consumers are resistant to having the line of demarcation between public and private decision making moved in either direction. (JEL C93, Q18, Q54, Q58, H23, H41 )