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The effect of weather on the willingness to pay for residential energy-efficiency

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  • Sejas-Portillo, Rodolfo

Abstract

I study the effects of weather conditions on the economic valuation of energy-efficiency (EE) in the UK housing market. The benefits of EE features depend directly on the expected weather over the ownership time frame (e.g. insulation for maintaining heat during cold periods). However, due to its notorious unpredictability, current weather conditions provide little to no additional information about future weather conditions (beyond common knowledge such as seasonal temperatures). Using transaction-level data of over 5 million residential property sales in England and Wales, I find that weather conditions on the month the buying decision is made can disproportionately influence the EE valuation of properties: During rough weather (i.e. cold and rainy) the EE rating of a property has a stronger influence on its sale price than during favourable weather (i.e. warm and dry). I show that these results are unlikely to be driven by energy-cost optimisation or self-selection behaviour. The consistency of the results with intuitive predictions (in the UK the benefits of EE are much higher during rough weather) highlights their importance: People understand the benefits of EE yet make biased intertemporal valuations. I model and discuss psychological biases as the most likely mechanisms and find that salience appears to have the stronger effect. I also present a novel extension to the regression-kink design (RDK) for identifying and estimating the treatment effect when the running variable also moderates the effect of another variable (via interaction). I conclude with policy recommendation.

Suggested Citation

  • Sejas-Portillo, Rodolfo, 2023. "The effect of weather on the willingness to pay for residential energy-efficiency," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 119358, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:119358
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    File URL: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/119358/
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Rabin, Matthew, 2002. "A perspective on psychology and economics," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(4-5), pages 657-685, May.
    2. Erica Myers, 2019. "Are Home Buyers Inattentive? Evidence from Capitalization of Energy Costs," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 11(2), pages 165-188, May.
    3. Langella, Monica & Manning, Alan, 2022. "Residential mobility and unemployment in the UK," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    4. Yangyang Xu & Veerabhadran Ramanathan & David G. Victor, 2018. "Global warming will happen faster than we think," Nature, Nature, vol. 564(7734), pages 30-32, December.
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making
    • R31 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Real Estate Markets, Spatial Production Analysis, and Firm Location - - - Housing Supply and Markets
    • Q41 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Demand and Supply; Prices

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