Strategic ignorance of health risk: its causes and policy consequences

Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskriftTidsskriftartikelfagfællebedømt

Standard

Strategic ignorance of health risk : its causes and policy consequences. / Nordström, Jonas; Thunström, Linda; van 't Veld, Klaas; Shogren, Jason. F. ; Ehmke, Mariah.

I: Behavioural Public Policy, Bind 7, Nr. 1, 2023, s. 83-114.

Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskriftTidsskriftartikelfagfællebedømt

Harvard

Nordström, J, Thunström, L, van 't Veld, K, Shogren, JF & Ehmke, M 2023, 'Strategic ignorance of health risk: its causes and policy consequences', Behavioural Public Policy, bind 7, nr. 1, s. 83-114. https://doi.org/10.1017/bpp.2019.52

APA

Nordström, J., Thunström, L., van 't Veld, K., Shogren, J. F., & Ehmke, M. (2023). Strategic ignorance of health risk: its causes and policy consequences. Behavioural Public Policy, 7(1), 83-114. https://doi.org/10.1017/bpp.2019.52

Vancouver

Nordström J, Thunström L, van 't Veld K, Shogren JF, Ehmke M. Strategic ignorance of health risk: its causes and policy consequences. Behavioural Public Policy. 2023;7(1):83-114. https://doi.org/10.1017/bpp.2019.52

Author

Nordström, Jonas ; Thunström, Linda ; van 't Veld, Klaas ; Shogren, Jason. F. ; Ehmke, Mariah. / Strategic ignorance of health risk : its causes and policy consequences. I: Behavioural Public Policy. 2023 ; Bind 7, Nr. 1. s. 83-114.

Bibtex

@article{66709d7df40d4965b46de2d134add730,
title = "Strategic ignorance of health risk: its causes and policy consequences",
abstract = "We examine the causes and policy implications of strategic (willful) ignorance of risk as an excuse to over-engage in risky health behavior. In an experiment on Copenhagen adults, we allow subjects to choose whether to learn the calorie content of a meal before consuming it and then measure their subsequent calorie intake. Consistent with previous studies, we find strong evidence of strategic ignorance: 46% of subjects choose to ignore calorie information, and these subjects subsequently consume more calories on average than they would have had they been informed. While previous studies have focused on self-control as the motivating factor for strategic ignorance of calorie information, we find that ignorance in our study is instead motivated by optimal expectations – subjects choose ignorance so that they can downplay the probability of their preferred meal being high-calorie. We discuss how the motivation matters to policy. Further, we find that the prevalence of strategic ignorance largely negates the effects of calorie information provision: on average, subjects who have the option to ignore calorie information consume the same number of calories as subjects who are provided no information.",
keywords = "Faculty of Science, strategic ignorance, willful ignorance, optimal expectations, calories, information, labling, restaurant, Faculty of Social Sciences, strategic ignorance, willful ignorance, risk perception, optimal expectations, calories, restaurant, information, labeling",
author = "Jonas Nordstr{\"o}m and Linda Thunstr{\"o}m and {van 't Veld}, Klaas and Shogren, {Jason. F.} and Mariah Ehmke",
year = "2023",
doi = "10.1017/bpp.2019.52",
language = "English",
volume = "7",
pages = "83--114",
journal = "Behavioural Public Policy",
issn = "2398-063X",
publisher = "Cambridge University Press",
number = "1",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - Strategic ignorance of health risk

T2 - its causes and policy consequences

AU - Nordström, Jonas

AU - Thunström, Linda

AU - van 't Veld, Klaas

AU - Shogren, Jason. F.

AU - Ehmke, Mariah

PY - 2023

Y1 - 2023

N2 - We examine the causes and policy implications of strategic (willful) ignorance of risk as an excuse to over-engage in risky health behavior. In an experiment on Copenhagen adults, we allow subjects to choose whether to learn the calorie content of a meal before consuming it and then measure their subsequent calorie intake. Consistent with previous studies, we find strong evidence of strategic ignorance: 46% of subjects choose to ignore calorie information, and these subjects subsequently consume more calories on average than they would have had they been informed. While previous studies have focused on self-control as the motivating factor for strategic ignorance of calorie information, we find that ignorance in our study is instead motivated by optimal expectations – subjects choose ignorance so that they can downplay the probability of their preferred meal being high-calorie. We discuss how the motivation matters to policy. Further, we find that the prevalence of strategic ignorance largely negates the effects of calorie information provision: on average, subjects who have the option to ignore calorie information consume the same number of calories as subjects who are provided no information.

AB - We examine the causes and policy implications of strategic (willful) ignorance of risk as an excuse to over-engage in risky health behavior. In an experiment on Copenhagen adults, we allow subjects to choose whether to learn the calorie content of a meal before consuming it and then measure their subsequent calorie intake. Consistent with previous studies, we find strong evidence of strategic ignorance: 46% of subjects choose to ignore calorie information, and these subjects subsequently consume more calories on average than they would have had they been informed. While previous studies have focused on self-control as the motivating factor for strategic ignorance of calorie information, we find that ignorance in our study is instead motivated by optimal expectations – subjects choose ignorance so that they can downplay the probability of their preferred meal being high-calorie. We discuss how the motivation matters to policy. Further, we find that the prevalence of strategic ignorance largely negates the effects of calorie information provision: on average, subjects who have the option to ignore calorie information consume the same number of calories as subjects who are provided no information.

KW - Faculty of Science

KW - strategic ignorance

KW - willful ignorance

KW - optimal expectations

KW - calories

KW - information

KW - labling

KW - restaurant

KW - Faculty of Social Sciences

KW - strategic ignorance

KW - willful ignorance

KW - risk perception

KW - optimal expectations

KW - calories

KW - restaurant

KW - information

KW - labeling

U2 - 10.1017/bpp.2019.52

DO - 10.1017/bpp.2019.52

M3 - Journal article

VL - 7

SP - 83

EP - 114

JO - Behavioural Public Policy

JF - Behavioural Public Policy

SN - 2398-063X

IS - 1

ER -

ID: 235073561