Greening the common agricultural policy: a behavioural perspective and lab-in-the-field experiment in Germany

Fabian Thomas, Estelle Midler, Marianne Lefebvre () and Stefanie Engel

European Review of Agricultural Economics, 2019, vol. 46, issue 3, 367-392

Abstract: This study investigates the behavioural economic underpinnings of current policy approaches to integrate environmental objectives into the Common Agricultural Policy. We conduct an economic lab-in-the-field experiment with farmers in Germany. We analyse the impact of the following policy design features on farmers’ decisions to adopt sustainable agricultural practices: (i) framing of the policy: whether farmers perceive themselves as being part of the problem or the solution, (ii) degree of control: mandatory vs. voluntary policy and (iii) framing of incentives as either losses or gains. All policy designs tested result in a significant increase in hectares conserved compared to a baseline scenario without policy. Also, behavioural factors do significantly affect farmers’ behaviour at the individual level. Only framing is found to significantly affect policy effectiveness.

Keywords: common agricultural policy; agri-environment measures; greening; lab-in-the-field experiment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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