Are Home Buyers Inattentive? Evidence from Capitalization of Energy Costs

A-Tier
Journal: American Economic Journal: Economic Policy
Year: 2019
Volume: 11
Issue: 2
Pages: 165-88

Score contribution per author:

4.022 = (α=2.01 / 1 authors) × 2.0x A-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

This paper explores whether home buyers are attentive to energy costs. The cost-effectiveness of market-based pollution policies crucially depends on whether consumers are attentive to energy costs when purchasing energy-using durables. I exploit energy-cost variation from fuel-price changes in Massachusetts where there is significant overlap in the geographic and age distributions of oil-heated and gas-heated homes. The results strongly reject that home buyers are unresponsive to energy costs under a wide range of consumption and discount-rate assumptions. Furthermore, my preferred specification is consistent with full capitalization of fuel expenditures at discount rates similar to mortgage interest rates.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:aea:aejpol:v:11:y:2019:i:2:p:165-88
Journal Field
General
Author Count
1
Added to Database
2026-01-26