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Beyond IncentivesSuppose that in a relevant community, there are two sources of energy, denominated "green" and "gray." Suppose that consistent with its name, "green" is better than gray on environmental grounds. Those who use green energy emit lower levels of greenhouse gases and also of conventional pollutants. Suppose that those who use gray energy save money. Which will consumers choose?The obvious response is that the answer will depend on the magnitude of the relevant differences. Suppose that green energy is far better than gray on environmental grounds
Counter to the traditional assumption of neoclassical economics that individuals are rational Homo oeconomici that always seek to maximize their utility and follow their 'true' preferences, research in behavioural economics has demonstrated that people's judgements and decisions are often subject to systematic biases and heuristics, and are strongly dependent on the context of the decision. In this article, we briefly review the transition of research from neoclassical economics to behavioural economics, and discuss how the latter has influenced research in consumer behaviour and consumer policy. In particular, we discuss the impacts of key principles such as status quo bias, the endowment effect, mental accounting and the sunkcost effect, other heuristics and biases related to availability, salience, the anchoring effect and simplicity rules, as well as the effects of other supposedly irrelevant factors such as music, temperature and physical markers on consumers' decisions. These principles not only add significantly to research on consumer behaviour -they also offer readily available practical implications for consumer policy to nudge behaviour in beneficial directions in consumption domains including financial decision making, product choice, healthy eating and sustainable consumption. From Homo oeconomicus to Homo consumensThe insights from behavioural economics (BE) are now well-established features in consumer research and policy. Today, in fields from health behaviour to pension saving, from investment decisions to food choice, from sustainable
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