Do farmers follow the herd? The influence of social norms on participation in agri-environmental schemes

Philippe Le Coent, Raphaële Préget () and Sophie Thoyer ()

No 289863, 172nd EAAE Seminar, May 28-29, 2019, Brussels, Belgium from European Association of Agricultural Economists

Abstract: The economic literature on Agri-environmental Schemes (AES) largely considers that farmers participate in contracts if the payment offered is superior to their opportunity costs. Psychological and social forces may however be at play in this decision. This article analyses the role played by social norms in farmers’ decisions to enrol into AES. It develops a simple theoretical model highlighting the interplay of descriptive and injunctive norms in farmers’ utility functions. Results of this model lead us to propose few policy recommendations to counter or, in other contexts, to take advantage of the influence of social norms to increase farmers’ participation to AES.

Keywords: Agricultural and Food Policy; Environmental Economics and Policy; Institutional and Behavioral Economics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019-05-29
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cta, nep-env, nep-soc and nep-upt
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:eaa172:289863

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.289863

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