IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/fit/wpaper/16.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Promoting active transport through health information: evidence from a randomized controlled trial

Author

Listed:
  • Lassi Ahlvik

    (University of Helsinki, Department of Economics and Management)

  • Anna Sahari

    (VATT Institute for Economic Research)

Abstract

The negative health impacts of passive transport can be substantial both from the individual point of view and with respect to public spending on health. We run a field-experiment to study the effectiveness of information in encouraging active transport choices. The treatment is carried out using a smartphone application that automatically tracks users’ daily transport choices. We find that the treatment group receives and internalizes the information, but we do not find a statistically signifcant effect on their travel behavior.

Suggested Citation

  • Lassi Ahlvik & Anna Sahari, 2023. "Promoting active transport through health information: evidence from a randomized controlled trial," Working Papers 16, Finnish Centre of Excellence in Tax Systems Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:fit:wpaper:16
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://verotutkimus.fi/verotutkimus/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/FIT-WP-16-Promoting-active-transport-through-health-information-181223.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2023
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Inge van den Bijgaart & David Klenert & Linus Mattauch & Simona Sulikova, 2024. "Healthy climate, healthy bodies: Optimal fuel taxation and physical activity," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 91(361), pages 93-122, January.
    2. Gravert, Christina & Olsson Collentine, Linus, 2021. "When nudges aren’t enough: Norms, incentives and habit formation in public transport usage," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 190(C), pages 1-14.
    3. Hintermann, Beat & Schoeman, Beaumont & Molloy, Joseph & Götschi, Thomas & Castro, Alberto & Tchervenkov, Christopher & Tomic, Uros & Axhausen, Kay W., 2021. "Pigovian Transport Pricing in Practice," Working papers 2021/11, Faculty of Business and Economics - University of Basel.
    4. Francesca Cellina & Dominik Bucher & Francesca Mangili & José Veiga Simão & Roman Rudel & Martin Raubal, 2019. "A Large Scale, App-Based Behaviour Change Experiment Persuading Sustainable Mobility Patterns: Methods, Results and Lessons Learnt," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-23, May.
    5. Löschel, Andreas & Rodemeier, Matthias & Werthschulte, Madeline, 2023. "Can self-set goals encourage resource conservation? Field experimental evidence from a smartphone app," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    6. Gruber, Jonathan & Koszegi, Botond, 2004. "Tax incidence when individuals are time-inconsistent: the case of cigarette excise taxes," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(9-10), pages 1959-1987, August.
    7. McKenzie, David, 2012. "Beyond baseline and follow-up: The case for more T in experiments," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(2), pages 210-221.
    8. Stefano DellaVigna & Ulrike Malmendier, 2006. "Paying Not to Go to the Gym," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(3), pages 694-719, June.
    9. Ariella S. Kristal & Ashley V. Whillans, 2020. "What we can learn from five naturalistic field experiments that failed to shift commuter behaviour," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 4(2), pages 169-176, February.
    10. Russell Golman & David Hagmann & George Loewenstein, 2017. "Information Avoidance," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 55(1), pages 96-135, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Alexander Goetz & Ioana Marinica & Harald Mayr & Luca Mosetti & Renate Schubert, 2024. "Do mobile applications foster sustainable mobility? Evidence from a field experiment," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics, Springer;Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics, vol. 160(1), pages 1-33, December.
    2. Piccoli, Luca & Tiezzi, Silvia, 2021. "Rational addiction and time-consistency: An empirical test," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    3. Markus Haavio & Kaisa Kotakorpi, 2012. "Sin Licenses Revisited," CESifo Working Paper Series 4010, CESifo.
    4. Griffith, Rachel & O'Connell, Martin & Smith, Kate & Cherchye, Laurens & De Rock, Bram & Vermeulen, Frederic, 2017. "A new year, a new you? Heterogeneity and self-control in food purchases," CEPR Discussion Papers 12499, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    5. Jing Ai & Lin Zhao & Wei Zhu, 2016. "Contracting with Present-Biased Consumers in Insurance Markets," The Geneva Risk and Insurance Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association for the Study of Insurance Economics (The Geneva Association), vol. 41(2), pages 107-148, September.
    6. Daniele Pennesi, 2021. "Between Commitment and Flexibility: Revealing Anticipated Regret and Elation," Working papers 071, Department of Economics, Social Studies, Applied Mathematics and Statistics (Dipartimento di Scienze Economico-Sociali e Matematico-Statistiche), University of Torino.
    7. Augsburg, Britta & Bancalari, Antonella & Durrani, Zara & Vaidyanathan, Madhav & White, Zach, 2022. "When nature calls back: Sustaining behavioral change in rural Pakistan," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    8. Chowdhury, Shyamal & Smits, Joeri & Sun, Qigang, 2020. "Contract structure, time preference, and technology adoption," GLO Discussion Paper Series 633, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    9. Diarmaid Ó Ceallaigh & Kirsten I.M. Rohde & Hans van Kippersluis, 2024. "Skipping your workout, again? Measuring and understanding time inconsistency in physical activity," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 24-028/V, Tinbergen Institute.
    10. Johannes Gessner & Wolfgang Habla & Ulrich J. Wagner, 2023. "Can Social Comparisons and Moral Appeals Induce a Modal Shift Towards Low-Emission Transport Modes?," CRC TR 224 Discussion Paper Series crctr224_2023_451, University of Bonn and University of Mannheim, Germany.
    11. Jin, Lawrence & Kang, Minwook, 2023. "Human-capital investments as a commitment device," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    12. Galizzi, Matteo M. & Miraldo, Marisa & Stavropoulou, Charitini & van der Pol, Marjon, 2016. "Doctor–patient differences in risk and time preferences: A field experiment," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 171-182.
    13. Haavio, Markus & Kotakorpi, Kaisa, 2016. "Sin licenses revisited," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 40-51.
    14. Minnich, Aljoscha, 2023. "Gamification in the transport sector: Quasi-experimental evidence from a bicycle navigation app," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    15. repec:oup:qjecon:v:128:y:2012:i:1:p:53-104 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Kuchler, Theresa & Pagel, Michaela, 2021. "Sticking to your plan: The role of present bias for credit card paydown," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 139(2), pages 359-388.
    17. John Beshears & James J. Choi & Christopher Clayton & Christopher Harris & David Laibson & Brigitte C. Madrian, 2020. "Optimal Illiquidity," NBER Working Papers 27459, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. Mattauch, Linus & van den Bijgaart, Inge & Klenert, David & Sulikova, Simona, 2020. "Optimal fuel taxation with suboptimal health choices," INET Oxford Working Papers 2020-22, Institute for New Economic Thinking at the Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford.
    19. Gessner, Johannes & Habla, Wolfgang & Wagner, Ulrich J., 2023. "Can social comparisons and moral appeals increase public transport ridership and decrease car use?," ZEW Discussion Papers 23-003, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    20. Aronsson, Thomas & Sjögren, Tomas, 2016. "Quasi-hyperbolic discounting, paternalism and optimal mixed taxation," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 24-36.
    21. Lu Li & Richard Peter, 2021. "Should we do more when we know less? The effect of technology risk on optimal effort," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 88(3), pages 695-725, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Transport Externalities; Active travel; Health Behaviour; Nudging;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • R41 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics - - - Transportation: Demand, Supply, and Congestion; Travel Time; Safety and Accidents; Transportation Noise
    • D90 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - General

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:fit:wpaper:16. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Marjukka Hourunranta (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/fitsrfi.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.