Optimal Persuasion with Imitating Receivers

欧盟委员会早就为农产品和食品建立了地理标志（GIs）。该方案旨在将独特的标志赋予品质卓越的产品，这些产品的独特特征源于其原产地。作为健康和营养饮食的最佳表达，地理标志应该为买家提供有说服力的线索，最终影响他们的日常购物。如果消费者理性地选择食物以最大化他们的生存机会，这将是正确的。然而，由于营养不良正在上升，消费者对欧盟质量标签的认识仍然很低，我问以下问题：如果买家不理性，地理标志真的有价值吗？如果不是，如何调整现行政策来促进它？在这种情况下，我考虑一种特殊形式的非理性：模仿。我选择这种心理现象是因为它在消费者研究中的重要性。在整个过程中，我使用理论经济学的工具来定义和理解它对最优说服理论的影响。这项研究是与政策相关的i)提高消费者对欧盟质量计划的认识，ii)指导包装前标签提案的全系统变化。这种贡献将在促进向更可持续的食物选择过渡的关键时刻到来。

The European Commission has long established Geographical Indications (GIs) for agricultural commodities and foodstuff. This scheme aims to attribute distinctive marks to products of exceptional quality, whose unique characteristics are due to their place of origin. As the best expression of a healthy and nutritious diet, GIs should provide buyers with persuasive cues that ultimately affect their daily shopping. This would be true if consumers chose foods rationally tomaximise their chances of survival. However, since malnutrition is on the rise and consumers' awareness of EU quality labels remains low, I ask the following: are GIs truly valuable if buyers are not rational? If not, how can current policies be adapted to promote it? In this case, I consider a specific form of non-rationality: imitation. I choose this psychological phenomenon because of its importance in consumer research. Throughout, I use tools of theoretical economics to defineimitation and understand its impact on optimal persuasion theory.This study is policy-relevant for i) increasing consumers' awareness of EU Quality Schemes and for ii) steering system-wide changes in front-of-pack labelling proposals. Such a contribution would come ata critical time for promoting a transition to more sustainable food choices.