Event Details
About this Event
While water shortages are a real problem, many people are disgusted by the idea of reusing water. Feelings of disgust can lead consumers to reduce their willingness to pay for goods and services that are scientifically safe.
Join Professor Kent Messer to explore recent research on consumers’ willingness to pay for agricultural products grown with recycled water. Delve into recent studies that used economic experiments to gain insights into the psychological and behavioral rejections of recycled water.
Messer will speak to the way behavioral interventions can lessen the weight disgust plays in the decision process—and, thus, mitigate its effects—by emphasizing the existing, positive dimensions of a stigmatized object, like recycled water.
Kent Messer is the S. Hallock du Pont Professor of Applied Economics and the director of the Center for Experimental and Applied Economics at the University of Delaware. He is also the co-director of the Center for Behavioral and Experimental Agri-Environmental Research (CBEAR), a USDA Center of Excellence. As a behavioral economist, Messer is engaged in research and outreach efforts related to applying behavioral science and experimental design to the nexus of agriculture and the environment, such as conservation programs, eco labeling and water security issues.
This in-person event will not be recorded.
All event attendees must RSVP and will need to show ID upon arrival. In addition, all attendees will need to complete the UD Daily Health Check the day of the event, and show the green icon reflecting health clearance upon arrival. Face masks are required for this event.