Browsing by Author "Kurz, Verena"

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Essays on behavioral economics: Nudges, food consumption and procedural fairness
(2017-09-22) Kurz, Verena
Decreasing meat consumption holds significant potential for the reduction of human-induced greenhouse gas emissions and the mitigation of climate change. Fostering behavioral change to reduce climate emissions related to food consumption is challenging and requires new strategies based on an understanding of human decision-making. The first two chapters of this thesis are devoted to studying the potential of nudging interventions to reduce meat consumption in different contexts. The third chapter explores the role procedural fairness plays for solving a coordination problem. We study how an informal rule in the form of recommendations affects efficiency, and how the results vary with changes in the fairness of the recommendations. This thesis highlights the importance of contextual factors for human decision making and its implications for policy.
Nudging à la carte – A field experiment on food choice
(2017-02) Gravert, Christina; Kurz, Verena; Dept. of Economics, University of Gothenburg
We test the effect of framing of a menu on the choice of ordering climate friendly dishes in a randomized controlled experiment. Rearranging the menu in favor of vegetarian food has a large and significant effect on the willingness to order a vegetarian dish instead of meat. We show that there exists a considerable marginal group willing to change meat consumption behavior at least in the short term. Our results demonstrate both to policy makers and to actors in the food service sector that small, cheap interventions can significantly decrease carbon emissions from food consumption.
Nudging as an Environmental Policy Instrument
(2019-04) Carlsson, Fredrik; Gravert, Christina; Johansson-Stenman, Olof; Kurz, Verena; Department of Economics, University of Gothenburg
We discuss the use of green nudges – nudges intended to reduce negative externalities – as an environmental policy instrument. A review of empirical studies reveals that green nudges can have a sizeable impact on behavior and the environment, but that the effects are context dependent. In the policy discussion, drawing on both the empirical overview and basic welfare-economic models, it is emphasized that while green nudges seem to have a large potential, they offer no panacea for solving environmental problems. Instead, they should be seen as a policy instrument among others in the regulator’s toolbox. In particular, we discuss the potential role of nudging when environmental externalities can be dealt with using optimal Pigovian taxes, and when they cannot. Nudging has a greater potential when such taxes are not available or feasible.
Nudging to reduce meat consumption: Immediate and persistent effects of an intervention at a university restaurant
(2017-11) Kurz, Verena; Dept. of Economics, University of Gothenburg
Changing dietary habits to reduce the consumption of meat is considered to have great potential to mitigate food-related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. To test if nudging can increase the consumption of vegetarian food, I conducted a field experiment with two university restaurants. At the treated restaurant, the salience of the vegetarian option was increased by changing the menu order, and by placing the dish at a spot visible to customers. The other restaurant served as a control. Daily sales data on the three main dishes sold were collected from September 2015 until June 2016. The experiment was divided into a baseline, an intervention, and a reversal period where the setup was returned to its original state. Results show that the nudge increased the share of vegetarian lunches sold by around 6 percentage points. The change in behavior is partly persistent, as the share of vegetarian lunches sold remained 4 percentage points higher than during the baseline period after the original setup was reinstated. The changes in consumption reduced GHG emissions from food sales around 5 percent