Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE160101242
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$358,000.00
Summary
Market responses to behavioral consumer policy: Experimental study. This project aims to investigate the effectiveness of regulatory policies such as industry standards, optimal defaults and third-party comparison services in supporting consumer decision-making. In complex market environments, consumers often struggle to make good purchasing decisions and can be vulnerable to exploitation by firms. Understanding how regulatory consumer policy directly affects consumer decisions and the dynamic s ....Market responses to behavioral consumer policy: Experimental study. This project aims to investigate the effectiveness of regulatory policies such as industry standards, optimal defaults and third-party comparison services in supporting consumer decision-making. In complex market environments, consumers often struggle to make good purchasing decisions and can be vulnerable to exploitation by firms. Understanding how regulatory consumer policy directly affects consumer decisions and the dynamic strategies of participating firms is important to improve our markets, inform consumer policy and provide evidence-based policy recommendations. This is particularly important in the increasingly complex market domains such as health, insurance and household finance.Read moreRead less
Technology Transforming Markets: Large-Scale Field Experiments in Electricity Use. Advances in information technology are transforming electricity markets. Victoria is rolling out ‘smart’ meters, which record half-hourly consumption data. Some retailers also provide web portals that facilitate customer access to this information. Together with an innovative start-up company, this project aims to use large-scale field experiments to evaluate the impact of these technologies on how consumers: use ....Technology Transforming Markets: Large-Scale Field Experiments in Electricity Use. Advances in information technology are transforming electricity markets. Victoria is rolling out ‘smart’ meters, which record half-hourly consumption data. Some retailers also provide web portals that facilitate customer access to this information. Together with an innovative start-up company, this project aims to use large-scale field experiments to evaluate the impact of these technologies on how consumers: use electricity; opt for new pricing plans; and switch retailers. The aims have important implications for environmental policies designed to conserve energy, for consumer choice and welfare, and for retail market competitiveness.Read moreRead less
The economics of cooperative behaviour. Free-riding and rent-seeking, such as tax avoidance and nepotism, are group-undermining activities that societies including Australia continuously struggle with. The aim of this project is to develop a fuller understanding of how to protect human groups from these socially damaging group-related behaviours. Drawing on a conceptual grounding that combines ideas from across social science, the project aims to implement a suite of economic experiments to deve ....The economics of cooperative behaviour. Free-riding and rent-seeking, such as tax avoidance and nepotism, are group-undermining activities that societies including Australia continuously struggle with. The aim of this project is to develop a fuller understanding of how to protect human groups from these socially damaging group-related behaviours. Drawing on a conceptual grounding that combines ideas from across social science, the project aims to implement a suite of economic experiments to develop a view of humans' cooperative behaviour that unites several strands of economics literature and offers new insights about how institutions that counter free-riding and rent-seeking arise and are maintained.Read moreRead less