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This special issue aims to extend the active discourse on applying behavioral science-based tools to policymaking in the fields of food, agriculture, and agri-environmental issues. Papers in this special issue evaluate the impact of behavioral science-based tools to understand their effectiveness and limitations. Additionally, for this introductory paper, we collected and analyzed data from the 91 submissions we received for this special issue to identify knowledge gaps and priorities for future policy research. Our findings show that behavioral interventions have small effect sizes but, when coupled with other policy tools, can have larger effects. We highlight that future research in these areas must aim to overcome the current shortcomings of the literature in terms of the use of hypothetical or low stakes in experiments, the focus on only measuring short-term behavior change, and the general lack of discussion on cost-effectiveness and mechanisms. Furthermore, we found that most behavioral science interventions in these submitted papers focused either on consumers or producers and thus offered little insight into other actors in the supply chain. We argue that a focus on better research practices is needed to improve policy-oriented behavioral science-based research in the future and note that accepted papers in this special issue were more likely to employ these practices. Finally, we offer six insights and recommendations for researchers and practitioners that arise from this special issue
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Chapter 80 - Experimental and behavioral economics to inform agri-environmental programs and policies.
Agricultural and applied economists have begun routinely using behavioral and experimental economics tools to answer important questions about agri-environmental policies and programs. These tools offer valuable insights into decision-making that can advance our economic understanding of human behavior and inform evidence-based policies. However, conducting robust economic experiments on agri-environmental topics presents unique challenges that can make implementation of these studies difficult and limit the applicability of results. This chapter provides a practical guide for researchers regarding best practices for applying experimental and behavioral economics to agri-environmental research focused on producer decision-making. We begin with a brief overview of how insights from behavioral economics have contributed to related literatures over past decades and highlight how economic experiments have been used to answer important research questions in those domains. We describe the types of economic experiments used to answer policy-relevant questions and carefully consider the advantages and limitations of each method in various contexts. We also highlight important trade-offs between control, context, and representativeness to consider when determining the most appropriate type of experiment to conduct. The chapter emphasizes five contemporary issues related to conducting robust experimental economics studies: replicability, statistical power, publication bias, farmer and rural landowner recruitment, and detection of heterogeneous treatment effects. To assist researchers in addressing each issue, we outline best practices and we offer recommendations for researchers, editors, reviewers, and funders. We also discuss research ethics and community engagement. Finally, we present a framework for prioritizing future economics research that can inform agri-environmental programs and policies.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1757353
- PAR ID:
- 10331574
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Handbook of agricultural economics
- Volume:
- 5
- ISSN:
- 1574-0072
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 4331-4406
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.hesagr.2021.10.006
