Tastes Better than Expected: Post-Intervention Effects of a Vegetarian Month in the Student Canteen

Charlotte Klatt () and Anna Schulze-Tilling ()
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Charlotte Klatt: University of Kassel
Anna Schulze-Tilling: Bocconi University & University of Bonn

No 315, ECONtribute Discussion Papers Series from University of Bonn and University of Cologne, Germany

Abstract: Interventions to decrease meat consumption are often only implemented for short periods of time, and it is unclear how they might have lasting effects. We combine student canteen consumption (over 270,000 purchases made by over 4,500 guests) and survey data (N>800) to study how a one-month intervention to decrease meat consumption affects consumer behavior post-intervention. During the intervention period, meat meals were eliminated from the menu of the treatment canteen, while the two control canteens were unaffected. Using a difference-in-difference approach, we estimate that guests usually frequenting the treatment canteen did not significantly reduce their visits to the canteen during or after the intervention. In the two months following the intervention, they were still 4% less likely to choose the meat option when visiting the canteen, relative to baseline. A large part of this effect seems explicable with guests learning about the quality of the canteen's vegetarian meals. We find little to no evidence of the intervention changing perceived social norms.

Keywords: Food consumption; behavioral intervention; field experiment; habit formation; experience (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C93 D12 D83 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 80 pages
Date: 2024-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-exp and nep-nud
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