ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with the theoretical question of why information programs are chosen as a policy instrument, what their effects are, and in which ways this policy instrument is evaluated. Information programs seem to have effect when they strengthen well-reasoned self-interest. Information programs are generally not very costly and the effects on behavior are often hard to detect. This leads to an evaluation paradox: the policy instrument that perhaps needs the most intensive evaluation, due to the inherent invisibility of its impacts, is less evaluated because of its relative cheapness and flexibility. The chapter also contains a comparison of the role of information programs in Dutch and Swedish energy conservation policies after the 1973 Oil Crisis. Both Swedish and Dutch energy conservation policy may very well be regarded as massive information and persuasion efforts coupled with generous economic incentives. The chapter further discusses the role of information programs in the energy conservation policies of the Netherlands and Sweden.
