Author
Messer, Kent D.
This paper traces the past 50 years of evolution of behavioral economics within agricultural and resource economics, documenting how applied economists’ empirical observations of farmer behavior, environmental valuation anomalies, and food choice patterns contributed foundational insights to behavioral theory. The field’s practical orientation led to early identification of key anomalies, including the endowment effect, adoption patterns, peer effects, other-regarding behavior and stigma effects. Through analysis of publication trends across five leading journals, we demonstrate steady growth in behavioral research. Finally, we examine institutional developments, including specialized research centers and policy applications, while acknowledging ongoing challenges regarding replication, external validity, and the limitations of nudge interventions, which provides fertile grounds for future research.
We conducted a field experiment involving the purchase of oysters to offer market-based evidence on whether consumers will scan quick response (QR) codes on food packages, a new labeling technology proposed by the SmartLabelTM initiative. In an artefactual marketplace selling oysters, only 1.2% participants scanned the QR code labels with their own devices. However, providing free access to a QR-scanning smartphone induced 52.6% of participants to access labeling information—a large improvement even compared to when this information was provided directly on the package. Furthermore, consumers’ responses to the additional information were similar regardless of how the information was delivered.