Welfare Gains from Quality Certification of Infant Foods: Results from a Market Experiment in Mali
Abstract
In low-income countries, malnutrition is often most severe among infants of six to twenty-four months. They need higher-density foods than the family diet, but density is a credence attribute. We hypothesize that the premium now paid for heavily advertised brands reflects demand for quality assurance, which could be provided at lower cost to competing firms through third-party certification. We use a new market experiment to find that mothers' average willingness-to-pay for certification is about $1.75/kg, or four times its cost, so that total economic-surplus gains from introducing certification to Mali would be on the order of $1 million annually. Copyright 2002, Oxford University Press.Download Info
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Bibliographic Info
Article provided by Agricultural and Applied Economics Association in its journal American Journal of Agricultural Economics.
Volume (Year): 84 (2002)
Issue (Month): 4 ()
Pages: 974-989
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Related research
Keywords:Other versions of this item:
- William Masters & Diakalia Sanogo, 2002. "Welfare gains from quality certification of infant foods: Results from a market experiment in mali," Framed Field Experiments 00191, The Field Experiments Website.
References
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- Smith, Lisa C. & Haddad, Lawrence James, 2000. "Explaining child malnutrition in developing countries: a cross-country analysis," Research reports 111, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
- Penders, Christopher L. & Staatz, John M. & Tefft, James F., 2000. "How does Agricultural Development Affect Child Nutrition in Mali?," Food Security International Development Policy Syntheses 11313, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics.
- Klein, Benjamin & Leffler, Keith B, 1981. "The Role of Market Forces in Assuring Contractual Performance," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 89(4), pages 615-41, August.
Citations
Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.Cited by:
- Marette, Stéphan & Roosen, Jutta & Blanchemanche, Sandrine & Feinblatt-Mélèze, Eve, 2010. "Functional food, uncertainty and consumers' choices: A lab experiment with enriched yoghurts for lowering cholesterol," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(5), pages 419-428, October.
- Trenton Smith & Hayley Chouinard & Philip Wandschneider, 2009.
"Waiting for the Invisible Hand: Novel Products and the Role of Information in the Modern Market for Food,"
Working Papers
2009-07, School of Economic Sciences, Washington State University.
- Smith, Trenton G. & Chouinard, Hayley H. & Wandschneider, Philip R., 2011. "Waiting for the invisible hand: Novel products and the role of information in the modern market for food," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 239-249, April.
- Stéphan Marette & Jutta Roosen & Sandrine Blanchemanche, 2008. "Taxes and subsidies to change eating habits when information is not enough: an application to fish consumption," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 34(2), pages 119-143, October.
- Marette, Stéphan & Roosen, Jutta & Blanchemanche, Sandrine, 2008. "Health information and substitution between fish: Lessons from laboratory and field experiments," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 197-208, June.
- Jutta Roosen & Stephan Marette & Sandrine Blanchemanche, 2010. "Value Elicitation using BDM and a Discrete Choice Mechanism," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 30(2), pages 1554-1563.
- Stéphan Marette & Jutta Roosen & Sandrine Blanchemanche, 2011. "The Combination of Lab and Field Experiments for Benefit-Cost Analysis," Journal of Benefit-Cost Analysis, De Gruyter, vol. 2(3), pages 2.
- Trenton Smith & Hayley Chouinard & Philip Wandschneider, 2009.
"Waiting for the Invisible Hand: Market Power and Endogenous Information in the Modern Market for Food,"
Working Papers
2009-07, School of Economic Sciences, Washington State University.
- Trenton Smith & Hayley Chouinard & Philip Wandschneider, 2009. "Waiting for the Invisible Hand: Market Power and Endogenous Information in the Modern Market for Food," Working Papers 2009-07, School of Economic Sciences, Washington State University.
- Lybbert, Travis J. & Magnan, Nicholas & Spielman, David J. & Bhargava, Anil K. & Gulati, Kajal, 2012. "Farmers' Heterogeneous Valuation of Laser Land Leveling in Eastern Uttar Pradesh: An Experimental Auction Approach to Informing Segmentation & Subsidy Strategies," 2012 Conference, August 18-24, 2012, Foz do Iguacu, Brazil 126806, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
- Ifft, Jennifer & Roland-Holst, David W. & Zilberman, David, 2009. "Valuation of Safety-Branded and Traceable Free Range Chicken in Ha Noi: Results from a Field Experiment," 2009 Annual Meeting, July 26-28, 2009, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 49444, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
- Anne-Célia Disdier & Stéphan Marette, 2012. "Taxes, minimum-quality standards and/or product labeling to improve environmental quality and welfare: Experiments can provide answers," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 41(3), pages 337-357, June.
- Stéphan Marette & Jayson L. Lusk & Jutta Roosen, 2010. "Welfare Impact of Information with Experiments: The Crucial Role of the Price Elasticity of Demand," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 30(2), pages 1585-1593.
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