Individuals exhibit systematic cognitive biases which make their behavior ‘deviant’ when compared to the benchmark of perfectly rational individuals. The person’s tendency to make errors in judgment based on cognitive factors, are thought to be based upon heuristics and lead to decisions that are sub-optimal. Ignoring cognitive biases can affect diverse dimensions of ecolabeling policies and lead to flawed prescriptions. We review several cognitive biases that affect eco-labeling related behaviors and show how taking them into account allows a better understanding of eco-labeling schemes and informs policy makers in order to design and implement more effective eco-labeling policies.
How cognitive biases can affect the performance of eco-labeling schemes
14 January 2014