Information Provision and Consumer Behavior: A Natural Experiment in Billing Frequency

Casey J. Wichman
2015 Social Science Research Network  
In this study, I examine the causal effect of information provision on consumer behavior. When consumers make decisions with less than real-time information, they may misperceive price and quantity consumed. I exploit an exogenous transition from bi-monthly to monthly billing for residential water customers to explore the demand response to more frequent information. In contrast to previous studies, I find that customers increase consumption by approximately five percent as billing information
more » ... ncreases. This result is reconciled in a model of price or quantity uncertainty, where the increase in billing frequency allows consumers to improve their perception of price and quantity consumed. Within this framework, I calculate welfare changes using treatment effects as sufficient statistics. My results suggest that increases in information provide consumers with welfare gains equivalent to 0.5 to 1 percent of annual expenditures on water. I find important heterogeneity in the response to billing frequency, suggesting an increase in nonessential uses of water. JEL Codes: D12, D61, H42, L95, Q21, Q25
doi:10.2139/ssrn.2646594 fatcat:pp5t6k36ffc4hj27h3p6fpfiuu