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Do food standards affect the quality of EU imports?

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  • Olper, Alessandro
  • Curzi, Daniele
  • Pacca, Lucia

Abstract

This paper investigates the relationship between the diffusion of EU standards and product quality upgrading using highly disaggregated import data to the EU in the food industry. Results show that, on average, the diffusion of EU voluntary standards boosts the rate of quality upgrading. However, the results are heterogeneous when moving from primary to processed foods, and from ISO to non-ISO standards.

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  • Olper, Alessandro & Curzi, Daniele & Pacca, Lucia, 2014. "Do food standards affect the quality of EU imports?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 122(2), pages 233-237.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:122:y:2014:i:2:p:233-237
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2013.11.031
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    Cited by:

    1. Anne‐Célia Disdier & Carl Gaigné & Cristina Herghelegiu, 2023. "Do standards improve the quality of traded products?," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 56(4), pages 1238-1290, November.
    2. Carl GAIGNÉ & Cathie LAROCHE DUPRAZ & Alan MATTHEWS, 2015. "Thirty years of European research on international trade in food and agricultural products," Review of Agricultural and Environmental Studies - Revue d'Etudes en Agriculture et Environnement, INRA Department of Economics, vol. 96(1), pages 91-130.
    3. Daniele Curzi & Lucia Pacca & Alessandro Olper, 2013. "Estimating Food Quality from Trade Data: An Empirical Assessment," LICOS Discussion Papers 33913, LICOS - Centre for Institutions and Economic Performance, KU Leuven.
    4. Xuejun Wang & Huiying Zhou & Dongmei Su, 2022. "Does the internationalisation of China's agri‐food standards affect export quality upgrading?—Evidence from firm‐product‐level data," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 66(4), pages 887-911, October.
    5. DOAN Thi Thanh Ha & ZHANG Hongyong, 2022. "Technical Barriers to Trade, Product Quality and Trade Margins: Firm-level evidence," Discussion papers 22056, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    6. Olper, Alessandro, 2017. "The political economy of trade-related regulatory policy: environment and global value chain," Bio-based and Applied Economics Journal, Italian Association of Agricultural and Applied Economics (AIEAA), vol. 5(3), February.
    7. Curzi, Daniele & Pacca, Lucia, 2015. "Price, quality and trade costs in the food sector," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 147-158.
    8. Curzi, Daniele & Schuster, Monica & Maertens, Miet & Olper, Alessandro, 2020. "Standards, trade margins and product quality: Firm-level evidence from Peru," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    9. Štefan Bojnec & Imre Fertő, 2017. "Quality Upgrades of EU Agri-Food Exports," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 68(1), pages 269-279, February.
    10. Dela-Dem Doe Fiankor & Daniele Curzi & Alessandro Olper, 2021. "Trade, price and quality upgrading effects of agri-food standards [Endogenous Trade Policy with Heterogeneous Firms]," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 48(4), pages 835-877.
    11. Annalisa Zezza & Federica Demaria & Maria Rosaria Pupo d'Andrea & Jo Swinnen & Giulia Meloni & Senne Vandevelde & Alessandro Olper & Daniele Curzi & Valentina Raimondi & Sophie Drogue, 2018. "Research for AGRI Committee - Agricultural trade: assessing reciprocity of standards," Working Papers hal-02787948, HAL.
    12. Xuejun Wang & Xiaoqi Zhang & Dan Meng & Harry M. Kaiser, 2022. "The Effects of Product Standards on Trade: Quasi‐Experimental Evidence from China," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 55(2), pages 232-249, June.
    13. Luca Macedoni, 2022. "Asymmetric information, quality, and regulations," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(4), pages 1180-1198, September.
    14. Kexuan Zhou & Sanjay Kumar & Futao Lu & Qiaoyun Fang & Linhui Yu, 2022. "Has the Belt and Road Initiative Improved the Quality of Food Imported by Chinese Enterprises?," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 30(2), pages 60-83, March.
    15. Ferto, Imre & Bojnec, Stefan, 2015. "Quality upgrading in the European-Union agri-food exports," 89th Annual Conference, April 13-15, 2015, Warwick University, Coventry, UK 204225, Agricultural Economics Society.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Quality upgrading; EU food standards; Competition; Distance to the frontier;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models
    • F13 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade Policy; International Trade Organizations
    • F14 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Empirical Studies of Trade
    • L15 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Information and Product Quality
    • O14 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Industrialization; Manufacturing and Service Industries; Choice of Technology
    • Q17 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Agriculture in International Trade

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