Payment Vs. Compensation For Ecosystem Services: Do Words Have A Voice In The Design of Environmental Conservation Programs?

Sophie Clot, Gilles Grolleau () and Philippe Méral

Ecological Economics, 2017, vol. 135, issue C, 299-303

Abstract: We examine whether and how word choice can affect individual perceptions about a proposed Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) program when objective outcomes are similar. From a traditional economic perspective, this type of manipulation would be considered unlikely to affect perceptions and behaviour, especially in the presence of pecuniary incentives and repeated decisions among sophisticated agents. From a behaviourally informed perspective, however, psychological and political theories of wording argue that word choice can have a significant impact on economic behaviour. To substantiate this discussion, we conduct a survey experiment that tests the impact of the words ‘payment’ and ‘compensation’ on favorability ratings of a proposed PES program. These preliminary findings suggest that the words used to describe public policies can be influential non-pecuniary interventions.

Keywords: PES; Wording effect; Conservation; Survey experiment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D03 Q56 Q57 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (14)

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Working Paper: Payment vs. compensation for ecosystem services: do words have a voice in the design of environmental conservation programs? (2017)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:135:y:2017:i:c:p:299-303

DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2016.12.028

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