Policy Deliberation and Enactment Corrects Market Inattention

Résumé du livre

This study highlights the effects of policy deliberation and enactment, vis-à-vis policy implementation that is often the focus of policy analysis and evaluation. We study the building benchmarking law in Philadelphia that requires mandatory reporting, benchmarking and disclosure of commercial buildings' energy use information. We find that during the deliberation and enactment of the policy, before the law was implemented and new information became publicly available, rents for existing ENERGY STAR commercial buildings changed, relative to their non-ENERGY STAR counterparts. These results imply that the policy deliberation and enactment process, which involved extensive public discourses, campaigns and media coverage, alleviated market inattention to building energy efficiency.