Opportunistic behavior and discrimination in the mexican solar photovoltaic market: An audit experiment

Abstract

This paper presents an empirical analysis of supply-side discrimination in the green technology market, with implications for policy optimization in emerging economies. We conduct an audit experiment using a messenger-based approach to investigate price discrimination and market behaviors in Mexico’s residential distributed solar photovoltaic (DPV) market. By using randomized fictitious customer profiles that vary by gender, socioeconomic status (SES), prior DPV knowledge, and access to external financing, we assess how these factors influence provider responses to quote requests. Our findings indicate that women and medium- to high-SES customers face significant overcharges, with combined surcharges exceeding 6% in some cases. Evidence of discriminatory practices based on product knowledge and access to financing is less robust. Oversizing of capacity by providers relative to the optimal size seems to be a common practice, although evidence of discrimination in this regard is rather weak.