Behavioral economists have shown that consumers may disregard the long-term, display unrealistic optimism, ignore shrouded attributes, procrastinate, make mistaken judgments about probability, and suffer from “internalities,” which occur when people make decisions that hurt their future...

Contrary to a common picture of relationships in a market economy, people often express communal and membership-seeking impulses via consumption choices, purchasing goods and services because other people are doing so as well. Shared identities are maintained and created in this way. Solidarity...

This essay is an introduction to a forthcoming special issue of the Journal of Consumer Policy, on Behavioural Economics, Environmental Policy and the Consumer. It emphasizes that consumer behavior can be greatly affected by the context, which may make it easy or difficult for people to make...

Many consumers suffer from present bias. To present-biased consumers, the long-term is a foreign country, and they are not sure that they will ever visit. If consumers suffer from present bias, there is room to rethink national policies in multiple domains. For example, regulatory mandates might...

Although there has been a proliferation of research and policy work into how nudges shape people’s behaviour, most studies stop far short of welfare analysis. In the current work, we critically reflect on recent efforts to proxy the welfare impact of nudges using willingness to pay and...