Research

We explore the interplay between two key individual drivers of green consumption: intrinsic moral concerns for the environment and reputational concerns for social image. Our microeconomic behavioral model characterizes choices among lifestyles differing in environmental impacts (brown/green) and conspicuousness (positional/discreet), depending on how strongly one values each of these motives. We show that image concerns can substitute for environmental concerns in driving green consumption across a limited but central range of preferences, in particular through the purchasing of positional green goods. 

Such conspicuous conservation can green individual consumption (reconciling Eco and Ego), especially among image-sensitive consumers, but yields environmental benefits only under specific economic conditions. Indeed, the environmental impact of a lifestyle depends critically on its relative impact intensity, i.e., the pollution per dollar spent for this lifestyle, more than on the pollution per unit of the representative good of the lifestyle, driving volume effects and behavioral rebound effects, which both reduce the environmental benefits of green lifestyles. Knowing the collective distribution of preferences may help design targeted policies, as those preferences strongly determine policy effectiveness.

Draft available upon request.

Presentations of this work: FAERE Doctoral Workshop (March 2024), Internal PhD Seminar (June 2024), FAERE Annual Conference (September 2024), 30th EAERE Conference in Bergen (June 2025), 24th Journées LAGV in Marseille (July 2025, see picture) 

The main objective of the project is to contribute to understanding the determinants of individual choices for more environmentally virtuous food (lower CO2 emissions, reduced impact on biodiversity, etc.), in the context of university catering.  The central idea is to analyze experimentally the role of the interaction between intrinsic environmental sensitivity (motivated by personal moral values) and concern for one's social image (i.e., how others view us and our consumption choices) in the choice of vegetarian dishes over meat-based ones. In order to study the behavior of vegetarians in detail - in particular, their propensity to show their choice to others - we introduce a vegetarian dish made with products from organic farming.

The research question is as follows: Does increasing the visibility of food choices in a mass catering context (with the possibility of “conspicuous vegetarianism”) help to reduce meat consumption? To answer this question, we plan to recruit around 400 students and invite them to lunch in the experimental restaurant set up jointly by AgroParisTech, the Crous and INRAE. The study will explore how the participant's stated environmental concern (assessed via a pre-experimental questionnaire) influences their choices and sensitivity to the nudge. The results will be analyzed in relation to participants' stated environmental concerns and lifestyles.

Presentations of this work: Paris Junior Experimentalists Meetings (November 2024), Environmental Economics Seminar, University of Gothenburg  (May 2025)