The social value of Eco-Labels: Evidence from mountain-labelled products in Italy and France

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Eco-labels can translate diffuse environmental values into market outcomes, yet the behavioural channels through which this occurs remain unclear, and evidence on the European Union's “Mountain Product” optional quality term is scarce. This study quantifies how pro-environmental behaviour, environmental knowledge, and the constructs of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control) relate to consumers' willingness to pay (WTP) a premium for mountain-labelled cheese. We use an original quota-controlled online survey of 23,517 valid respondents (11,232 in Italy; 12,285 in France) collected in 2025 with quotas at the NUTS3 level. The empirical strategy proceeds in two stages. Quantile regressions estimate the association between socio-demographic factors, environmental knowledge, and a General Ecological Behaviour-type score across the conditional distribution of behaviour. A double-hurdle (two-part) model then separates the decision to pay a positive premium from the premium amount. Environmental knowledge is positively associated with pro-environmental behaviour at all quantiles, with the largest coefficients in the lower tail of the distribution. Attitudes and subjective norms are the strongest predictors of participation: a one-standard-deviation increase in attitudes is associated with a probability of a positive WTP higher by 3.7 percentage points in Italy and 7.1 in France. Conditional on paying, subjective norms are associated with a premium of about €0.11/kg higher in both countries, whereas pro-environmental behaviour is associated with the premium size only in France (about €0.05/kg). Aggregating the estimates over the adult population, the label is associated with a potential value of about €67 million a year in Italy and €61 million in France at a benchmark consumption of 1 kg per adult. The results document a persistent attitude–behaviour gap and suggest country-specific channels linking environmental engagement to market support, with implications for certification bodies, producers, and policies for mountain areas.