13:50 - 15:30
Location: South Room 222 - Floor 2
Chair/s:
Andris Saulītis
Jakub Cihak - Breaking the Cycle: The Impact of One-Time Cash Transfers on Homelessness in Prague
Benjamin Marx - Offer Valid? Effects of Student Loan Offers on Educational Attainment and Earnings
Andris Saulītis - Playing by the Rules: Can Gamification Improve Corporate Tax Reporting?
Marta Buso - Sequencing behavioural interventions to reduce household food waste. Evidence from a field trial in Fife, Scotland
Eduard Alonso-Paulí - Incentives and Intrinsic Motivation for Pro-environmental Behavior: Field Evidence From Waste Sorting
Submission 124
Sequencing Behavioural Interventions to Reduce Household Food Waste. Evidence from a Field Trial in Fife, Scotland
panel.2-South Room 222 - Floor 2-04
Presented by: Marta Buso
Marta Buso 1, Sanchayan Banerjee 2, Peter John 3, Campbell Reid 4, Maggie Pollok 4
1 Institute for Environmental Studies IVM - Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
2 School for Government, The Policy Institute, King’s College London.
3 Department of Political Economy, School of Politics & Economics, King’s College London.
4 Zero Waste Scotland
The limitations of one-time policies in reducing food waste underscore the need for a more engaging, sequenced policy design. In this pre-registered field experiment, we test the effectiveness of a nudge with or without a thinking prompt in reducing food waste and generating financial savings, using a step-wedged design. 193 households in Fife Council, Scotland reported their food waste and grocery bills across 8 weeks (N=1081) and completed pre- and post-experiment questionnaires. The nudge group received a feedback report, and the week after, it was further encouraged to think about food waste reduction strategies (nudge+). Both interventions reduced household food waste compared to the baseline, on average. The nudge+ decreased food waste by 10g compared to the nudge, with a significant lagged effect in the post-treatment period. Planning, storage skills and disposal attitudes improved after the experiment. Policy sequencing can enhance the effectiveness of behavioural interventions in reducing food waste.