De l'opinion publique aux comportements des consommateurs faut-il une filière sans ogm?

In this paper we study the differences in European public opinion and consumer behavior with regard to the use of genetically modified organisms in the food supply. We report the results of an economic experiment in which we elicited willingness- to-pay information for products that contained GMO's and others that were GMO-free at various contamination thresholds. We also present the data from a survey of public opinion on the same subject. Participants in both the experiment and the sur- vey were a demographically representative sample of French urban households. We find that actual consumer behavior exhibits a lower level of hostility toward GMO's than that suggested by the survey. We analyze the economic causes of such a difference, and discuss the consequences of our findings for labeling policy.