Food choice with increased visibility - a field experiment at an environmental economics conference

Astrid Dannenberg, Giorgio Dini, Alessandro Tavoni and Eva Weingaertner

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: Food choices and in particular meat consumption have major impacts on the local and global environment, which is why the topic is gaining attention in environmental economics and other disciplines. In this study, we investigate the effect of increased visibility on food choices, for which there has been little research to date. We present findings from a field experiment among researchers at a large environmental economics conference. When registering for the three-days conference and prior to choosing between vegan, vegetarian, or meat/fish lunches, half of the participants were informed that their choice would be visibly printed on their conference name badge. The remaining half were informed of this saliency only after their food choice (at the conference venue). Despite the conference setting in which environmentally friendly choices and signals are likely to be valued, we find no significant effect of the treatment on lunch choices. We discuss possible reasons for the null effect, including that the consequences of visibility are ignored, discounted, or already factored in.

Keywords: field experiment; food choice; meat consumption; observability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C90 D91 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 17 pages
Date: 2026-02-28
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-exp
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Published in Ecological Economics, 28, February, 2026, 240. ISSN: 0921-8009

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