Consumer Purchases of Energy-Efficient Refrigerators and Implied Discount Rates

摘要

Consumer purchasing patterns of a standard and an energy-efficient refrigerator are presented. These models differed only in their initial cost and electricity consumption. Consumers in regions with higher electricity prices tended to buy the more efficient model. A distribution of implied consumer discount rates is constructed. Roughly 2/5 of the consumers behaved as if they had real discount rates above 60%, 1/5 between 35% and 60%, and 2/5 less than 35%. Some of the distribution in apparent discount rates may be attributable to market failures. (ERA citation 08:015214)