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Pro-environmental interventions and behavioral spillovers: Evidence from organic waste sorting in Sweden

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  • Alacevich, Caterina
  • Bonev, Petyo
  • Söderberg, Magnus

Abstract

This paper evaluates the behavioral spillover effect of organic waste sorting on households’ waste reduction. We use an administrative household-level dataset on residential waste from a Swedish municipality. To identify the spillover effects, we utilize a natural experiment triggered by the staggered implementation of a policy that introduced home-based organic waste sorting bins. We find a substantial positive spillover effect of waste sorting on waste reduction. The effect, however, disappears over time.

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  • Alacevich, Caterina & Bonev, Petyo & Söderberg, Magnus, 2021. "Pro-environmental interventions and behavioral spillovers: Evidence from organic waste sorting in Sweden," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jeeman:v:108:y:2021:i:c:s0095069621000528
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jeem.2021.102470
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    Cited by:

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    2. Banerjee, Sanchayan & Galizzi, Matteo M. & John, Peter & Mourato, Susana, 2022. "What works best in promoting climate citizenship? A randomised, systematic evaluation of nudge, think, boost and nudge+," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 115032, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    3. Bonev, Petyo, 2023. "Behavioral Spillovers," Economics Working Paper Series 2303, University of St. Gallen, School of Economics and Political Science.
    4. Bonan, Jacopo & Cattaneo, Cristina & D'Adda, Giovanna & Galliera, Arianna & Tavoni, Massimo, 2023. "Widening the Scope: The Direct and Spillover Effects of Nudging Water Efficiency in the Presence of Other Behavioral Interventions," RFF Working Paper Series 23-46, Resources for the Future.
    5. Bonev, Petyo & Gorkun-Voevoda, Liudmila & Knaus, Michael, 2022. "The effect of environmental policies on environmental behaviors and intrinsic motivation: evidence from the European Union," Economics Working Paper Series 2207, University of St. Gallen, School of Economics and Political Science, revised Sep 2022.
    6. De Silva, Lihini & Taylor, Rebecca, 2021. "If you build it, they will compost: The effects of municipal composting services on household waste generation," 2021 Annual Meeting, August 1-3, Austin, Texas 313874, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    7. Bonev, Petyo & Soederberg, Magnus & Unternährer, Maria, 2022. "An empirical evaluation of the effect of working from home on waste behaviors," Economics Working Paper Series 2210, University of St. Gallen, School of Economics and Political Science.
    8. Gramsch, Benjamin & Guevara, C. Angelo & Munizaga, Marcela & Schwartz, Daniel & Tirachini, Alejandro, 2022. "The effect of dynamic lockdowns on public transport demand in times of COVID-19: Evidence from smartcard data," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 136-150.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Behavioral spillover; Environmental policy; Limited attention; Household waste; Staggered difference-in-differences;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D01 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Microeconomic Behavior: Underlying Principles
    • D04 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Microeconomic Policy: Formulation; Implementation; Evaluation
    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
    • D90 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - General
    • H41 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Public Goods
    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives
    • Q53 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling

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