Information Disclosure through Agents: Evidence from a Field Experiment
With a large nationwide retailer, we run a natural eld experiment to measure the eects of energy use information disclosure, rebates, and sales agent incentives on demand for energy ecient durable goods. Sales incentives and rebates are complementary, but information and sales incentives alone have statistically and economically insignicant eects. Sales agents comply only partially with the experiment, targeting information at the most interested consumers but not discussing energy eciency with the disinterested majority. In follow-up surveys, most consumers are aware of the energy ecient model and may even overestimate its benets, suggesting that imperfect information is not a major barrier to adoption in this context.