Ida, T., Takemura, K.（竹村幸祐）, & Sato, M. (2015). Inner conflict between nuclear power generation and electricity rates: A Japanese case study. 原子力発電と電気料金の内的葛藤：日本の事例研究 Energy Economics, 48, 61-69. doi: 10.1016/j.eneco.2014.11.019
Since the March 11 earthquake, Japanese households have been facing a trade-off problem between decreasing dependency on nuclear power generation and avoiding an increase in electricity rates. We analyze this inner conflict quantitatively, adopting two economic–psychological approaches: First, we note that the trade-off causes cognitive dissonance after making a choice that results in a wider desirability gap between the chosen and rejected alternatives. Second, the consumer surplus improves by 11.2% with a no-choice option for suspending judgment in the presence of cognitive dissonance. Third, individual characteristics such as gender and annual household income are significantly correlated with both cognitive dissonance and a preference for the no-choice option.