Green Nudges and Information Avoidance, An Experiment with Farmers from Five European Countries

Why do information campaigns fail? In this paper, we investigate information avoidance as a potential explanation. We launched a preregistered experiment on farmers from Italy, Belgium, Lithuania, France, and Finland. We collected two samples: one where respondents could skip information about the economic benefits of implementing environmentally sustainable farming practices, and another composed of a group treated with the information and a control group. In the first sample, around 39% of farmers actively avoid the information. Further tests point to distrust in scientist as a potential mechanism. In the second sample, the information treatment increases respondents' willingness to implement environmentally sustainable practices. Using machine learning, we find that those with a similar profile to the information avoiders of the first sample drive the effect of the nudge. Thus, one possible reason why information campaigns fail is that the most amenable individuals are also those who tend to avoid information.

About Julien Picard

Julien is an environmental and behavioural economist working on food choices, pro-social actions, and environmentally sustainable farming practices. He uses experimental methods and theory to understand what drives pro-environmental decisions. Julien graduated with a PhD in Environmental Economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science in 2024. He is currently employed as a postdoctoral researcher at the Politecnico di Milano and is affiliated with the Mediterranean Center on Climate Change. In summer 2026, Julien will join the French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE) at the Paris-Saclay Applied Economics Lab.