The Red and the Green : essays on the economics of information in the sustainable habitat market.

Summary This thesis examines the value of information in the sustainable housing market, combining theoretical, empirical and experimental approaches. First, the perception of the Diagnostic de Performance Énergétique is studied through a survey on a representative sample of the French population. We highlight a nuanced cognitive effectiveness of the label. A part of the population is unaware of it, but attentive subjects use the label to revise their beliefs about energy quality. Second, we provide evidence of the capitalization of this information in real estate prices in two French regions. Low-energy houses present, ceteris paribus, a significant green premium that corresponds to the technical-economic estimates of the associated renovation costs. Despite this 'green value', the pace of energy renovations remains slow on the French market: the information conveyed by the energy label does not reduce the uncertainty on the results of renovation operations. Third, we show through a strategic options model that this uncertainty can delay investment decisions, or even prevent their diffusion. Fourth, we study through a laboratory experiment the willingness of individuals to pay for information, showing that it could largely exceed its theoretical prediction. Nevertheless, the positive effects of paid information could be annihilated by several cognitive biases, requiring a regulation of information markets.