| 1. |
- Thunström, Linda, et al.
(författare)
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On strategic ignorance of environmental harm and social norms
- 2013
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Are people strategically ignorant of the negative externalities their activities cause the environment? Herein we examine if people avoid costless information on those externalities and use ignorance as an excuse to reduce pro-environmental behavior. We develop a theoretical framework in which people feel internal pressure (“guilt”) from causing harm to the environment (e.g., emitting carbon dioxide) as well as external pressure to conform to the social norm for pro-environmental behavior (e.g., offsetting carbon emissions). Our model predicts that people may benefit from avoiding information on their harm to the environment, and that they use ignorance as an excuse to engage in less pro-environmental behavior. It also predicts that the cost of ignorance increases if people can learn about the social norm from the information. We test the model predictions empirically using an experiment combined with a stated-preference survey involving a hypothetical long-distance flight and an option to buy offsets for the flight’s carbon footprint. More than half (53 percent) of the subjects choose to ignore information on the carbon footprint alone before deciding their offset purchase, but ignorance significantly decreases (to 29 percent) when the information additionally reveals the share of air travelers who buy carbon offsets. We find evidence that some people use ignorance as an excuse to reduce pro-environmental behavior—ignorance significantly decreases the probability of buying carbon offsets.
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| 2. |
- Nordström, Jonas, et al.
(författare)
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Strategic Ignorance of Health Risk: Its Causes and Policy Consequences
- 2018
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- We examine the causes and policy consequences of strategic (willful) ignorance of risk as an excuse to overengage in risky health behavior. In an experiment on Copenhagen adults, we allow subjects to choose whether to learn the calorie content of a meal before consuming it, and measure their subsequent calorie intake. We find strong evidence of strategic ignorance: 46% of subjects choose to ignore calorie information, and these subjects subsequently consume morecalories on average than they would have had they been informed. We find that strategically ignorant subjects downplay the health risk of their preferred meal being high-calorie, which we formally show is consistent with the theory of optimal expectations about risk. Further, we find that the prevalence of strategic ignorance largely negates the effectiveness of calorie information provision: on average, subjects who have the option to ignore calorie information consume about the same number of calories as subjects who are provided no information.
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| 3. |
- Nordström, Jonas, et al.
(författare)
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The impact of price reductions on on individuals’ choice of healthy meals away from home
- 2013
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Food high in energy but low in nutritional value is an important contributor to several serious illnesses, and one type of food that is particularly high in energy but low in nutrition is food consumed away from home. In this paper, we examine the demand and willingness to pay for healthy, Keyhole-labelled meals. A Keyhole-labelled meal is particularly low in calories, fat, sugar and salt, but particularly high in fibre. The results suggest that to get the majority of individuals to choose the healthy option regularly it would be necessary to alter the relativeprice between healthy and less healthy meals. Generally groups of individuals with a poor nutritional intake require a larger compensation (subsidy) before they choose the healthy alternative. About one third of respondents would choose the healthy option regularly if the prices for a healthy and less healthy meal were the same. In particular groups of individuals who already have a relatively good nutritional intake would select the healthy option. Groups with a generally poor nutritional intake (men and individuals with lower education and lower income) would gain health benefits from a subsidy of Keyhole-labelled meals.
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| 4. |
- Thunström, Linda, et al.
(författare)
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A Note on the Impact on Sales from Introducing Healthy Labeled Meals on the Lunch Menu
- 2012
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Menu labeling of prepared meals away from home is a policy designed to help consumers make healthier food choices. In this paper, we use a field experiment to analyze if a restaurant benefits from introducing a healthy labeled meal on its menu by experiencing an overall increase in sales. We cannot reject the hypothesis that sales are the same before and after the introduction of a healthy labeled meal on the menu, i.e., our data does not support the idea that restaurants increase their sales from supplying a healthy labeled meal.
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| 5. |
- Thunström, Linda, et al.
(författare)
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Can Taste and Nudging Impact Healthy Meal Consumption? Evidence from a Lunch Restaurant Field Experiment
- 2012
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Previous research shows that taste is one of the most important factors in determining food choices, and that food choices may be affected by ”nudging”. We analyze how taste, as determined by meal attributes, and nudging affects consumption of a healthy labeled meal. Our analysis is based on a field experiment in a lunch restaurant and our results imply that sales of the healthy labelled meal, and its market share, is greatly impacted by its taste. Nudging, as in order of display on the menu, does not impact sales of the healthy labelled meal in our experiment. We conclude that supplying tasty healthy meals may be key to significantly impact healthy eating, superior to other policy measures aimed at encouraging healthier food choices, such as information, nudging and food tax reforms.
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| 6. |
- Thunström, Linda, et al.
(författare)
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The Importance of Taste for Food Demand and the Experienced Taste Effect of Healthy Labels – An Experiment on Potato Chips and Bread
- 2014
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This paper quantitatively analyzes the importance of taste versus health in food demand,as well as the effect on consumers’ experienced taste of the non-intrinsic value of healthy labels. Our analysis is based on taste experiments and Vickrey second price auctions on potato chips and bread. Our findings imply a large positive effect on demand for potato chips from higher taste scores: when consumers’ experienced taste from potato chips improves by one unit, the average willingness-to-pay (WTP) for a 150 gram bag of chips increases by 25 euro cents. The estimated effect from taste on bread demand is smaller, but may be sizeable for subgroups of consumers. Our evidence suggests that demand for chips and bread is unaffected by nutrition – the effect of the healthy label on WTP is not statistically significant. Finally, we find that consumers’ experienced taste of a food is unaffected by the food carrying a healthy label.
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| 7. |
- Thunström, Linda, et al.
(författare)
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The Importance of Taste for Food Demand and the Experienced Taste Effect of Healthy Labels - An experiment on potato chips and bread
- 2012
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This paper quantitatively analyzes the importance of taste versus health in food demand, as well as the effect on consumers’ experienced taste of the non-intrinsic value of healthy labels. Our analysis is based on taste experiments and Vickrey second price auctions on potato chips and bread. Our findings imply a large positive effect on demand for potato chips from higher taste scores: when consumers’ experienced taste from potato chips improves by one unit, the average WTP for a 150 gram bag of chips increases by 20 euro cents. The effect from taste on bread demand seems smaller, but may be sizeable for subgroups of consumers. Our evidence suggests that a better nutritional content, as indicated by a healthy label, may also positively affect food demand, but the effect is small and not statistically significant. Finally, we find that consumers’ experienced taste of a food is unaffected by the food carrying a healthy label.
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