In the face of environmental and social challenges, responsible consumption is playing an increasingly prominent role in public discourse. Organic products, fair trade goods, and low-carbon-footprint items: these alternatives help reduce the negative impacts of production and consumption. But they are often more expensive. This raises the question: are consumers with higher incomes more likely to adopt these responsible behaviors?
In a recent article published in The Economic Journal, Vanessa Valero (lecturer and researcher in economics at Institut Mines-Télécom Business School), Björn Bartling, and Roberto Weber examined this question using an experimental approach. Their goal is to identify the causal effect of income on so-called “socially responsible” consumption: that is, the decision to purchase products that reduce negative externalities for society or the environment.
A difficult question for economists to resolve
At first glance, the study’s data seem to suggest that yes, people with higher incomes often buy more sustainable or ethical products; however, this observation is not sufficient to prove that income is the cause of this behavior. Wealthier individuals may also be better educated, more informed about environmental issues, or more sensitive to social concerns. Distinguishing what is truly attributable to the effect of income therefore remains a challenge for economists.
Recreating an experimental market
To address this, researchers designed a series of economic experiments that replicate how a market functions. In these experiments, participants act as consumers and must choose between different products offered by companies. These products differ in two key ways: their price and their social impact. Sustainable products help reduce negative impacts (such as pollution or harm inflicted on a third party), but their production is more expensive, which results in a higher price.
The originality of the study lies in how the researchers manipulate participants’ income. In the various experimental conditions, consumers have different income levels, randomly assigned by the researchers. This method isolates the effect of income itself on consumption decisions.
The experiments were conducted both in the laboratory and online, in three distinct configurations, and the conclusions are clear: as income increases, participants purchase more socially responsible products. In other words, having greater financial resources makes consumers more inclined to spend money to reduce the negative impacts of their consumption. The study also shows that the share of responsible products in total purchases increases slightly with income.
More income, more responsible consumption… but also more consumption
However, the results also highlight a more ambivalent effect. Consumers with higher incomes tend to consume more overall. This increase in overall consumption can offset, or even exceed, the benefits associated with purchasing more responsible products. In other words, even though wealthier individuals are more likely to choose sustainable products, their higher consumption can lead to an overall increase in negative impacts.
These findings make an important contribution to our understanding of responsible consumption behaviors. They confirm that purchasing power plays a real role in consumers’ ability to adopt more sustainable behaviors, but they also highlight that income growth alone does not guarantee a reduction in the environmental impact of markets.
Conclusion: What are the implications for the ecological transition?
For policymakers, these conclusions call for caution. Encouraging responsible consumption cannot rely solely on increasing purchasing power. Other levers remain essential for steering markets toward more sustainable paths.
Understanding how consumers balance price, income, and social responsibility is thus a central challenge for supporting the ecological transition. By recreating markets in a laboratory setting, experimental economics offers a valuable tool for analyzing these behaviors.