Nudging participation in the Payments for Environmental Services Program in the EU

Chabe-Ferret et al (2022) report on the results of a large randomised experiment (N=20000) conducted in the Hauts de France region to test whether nudges sent by mail can increase the subscription rate of Payments for Environmental Services they test several nudges:

• Treatment 1: information about the program.
• Treatment 2: testimonies by farmers already benefiting from the program.
• Treatment 3: pre-stamped reply forms.

Impact and cost-effectiveness of the treatments

Chabe-Ferret et al (2022) find that:

1. Simple letters informing farmers that they are eligible to PES increase the number of contracts by 75 \(\pm\) 54 per 10000 letters sent, at a cost of 88 \(\pm\) 62 2018 Euros/additional contract, without degrading the environmental quality of the contracts.
2. Nudges such as testimony or social comparison does not result in additional contracts on top of the simple letter (-34 \(\pm\) 68 per 10000 letters).
3. Pre-stamped reply forms increase contacts with caseworkers on top of the simple letter (267 \(\pm\) 122 per 10000 letters) but do not increase the number of contracts (-14 \(\pm\) 86 per 10000 letters).