Can economic incentive help in reducing food waste: experimental evidence from a university dining hall

ABSTRACT

We show that a fixed financial incentive reduces the amount of food waste in an all-you-can-eat university-dining hall. Results indicate that the incentive increased the likelihood of students cleaning their plates, but did not affect the amount of food taken. These results raise important questions about implementing well-studied policies in modifying food consumption. An unintended consequence of the monetary incentive might have led students to consume relatively more food, thus encouraging unwanted eating habits.

KEYWORDS:

• Food waste
• financial incentive
• behavioral economics

JEL CLASSIFICATION:

• C93
• D12

Availability of data

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Ethics declaration statement

This research and data collection is approved by the Purdue University’s Institutional Review Board.

Additional information

Funding

The research is funded by the Jim and Neta Hicks Small Grant, Department of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University.