Does the provision of information increase the substitution of animal proteins with plant-based proteins? An experimental investigation into consumer choices

Pascale Bazoche, Nicolas Guinet, Sylvaine Poret and Sabrina Teyssier

No 313663, Working Papers from Institut National de la recherche Agronomique (INRA), Departement Sciences Sociales, Agriculture et Alimentation, Espace et Environnement (SAE2)

Abstract: A widespread transition towards diets based on plant proteins as substitutes for animal pro- teins would contribute to food system sustainability. Such changes in consumer food choices can be fostered by public policy. We conducted an online experiment to test whether provid- ing consumers with information regarding the negative consequences of meat consumption on the environment or health increases the substitution of animal-based proteins with plant-based proteins. The consumers had to make three meal selections, the first without exposure to infor- mation and the latter two after exposure to environmental or health information. One group of consumers served as the control and received no information. The results show that half of the consumers chose meals with animal proteins in all three cases. The information intervention had a limited impact on the average consumer. However, a latent class analysis shows that the information intervention impacted a sub-sample of the consumers. Information policy does not appear to be sufficient for altering consumer behaviour regarding the consumption of animal proteins.

Keywords: Consumer/Household Economics; Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety; Institutional and Behavioral Economics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 37 p.
Date: 2021-09-21
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-dcm, nep-env, nep-exp and nep-isf
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Does the provision of information increase the substitution of animal proteins with plant-based proteins? An experimental investigation into consumer choices (2023)
Working Paper: Does the provision of information increase the substitution of animal proteins with plant-based proteins? An experimental investigation into consumer choices (2021)
Working Paper: Does the provision of information increase the substitution of animal proteins with plant-based proteins? An experimental investigation into consumer choices (2021)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:inrasl:313663

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.313663

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