The Effectiveness of a Green Default Nudge in Achieving Resource Conservation

Within the intersection of both environmental and behavioral economics, green nudges are employed to promote conservation and pro-environmental behavior. I study the lasting effectiveness of a salient green default nudge in conserving paper within a context where price incentives are absent. At a private college in New York City, the default print setting switched from simplex (single-sided) to duplex (double-sided) in Spring 2019. This changed was salient through a pop-up window that asked to print double-sided. Using student-level data, I observe print behavior for a subset of students that printed across four semesters: Spring 2018 and Fall 2018 (control), as well as Spring 2019 and Fall 2019 (treatment). This research contributes to the nudge literature as it studies the long-term persistent impacts of the nudge in the absence of pecuniary incentives. The data analysis supports the hypothesis that this green default nudge was effective in promoting paper conservation and increasing resource efficiency. Specifically, double-sided printing increased and single-sided printing decreased after the nudge was introduced, resulting in a decrease in overall paper usage. I employed a panel regression model with student and semester fixed effects to examine the effect of the nudge on the sheets per page ratio, which measures the efficient usage of paper and considers both single-sided and double-sided printing. The nudge had a statistically significant effect in reducing the sheets per page ratio, and it improved the efficient use of paper by 19 percent. This inexpensive behavioral intervention proves successful in promoting environmental behavior and reducing paper consumption, which reduces greenhouse gas emissions