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Consumer acceptance of genetically modified foods: traits, labels and diverse information

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  • Huffman, Wallace E.

Abstract

New experimental economic methods are described and used to assess consumers' willingness to pay for food products that might be made from new transgenic and intragenic genetically modified (GM) traits. Participants in auctions are randomly chosen adult consumers in major US metropolitan areas and not college students. Food labels are kept simple and focus on key attributes of experimental goods. Diverse private information from the agricultural biotech industry (largely Monsanto and Syngenta), environmental groups (largely Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth) and independent third-party information is used to construct the information treatments. Food labels and information treatments are randomized, which is a deviation from traditional lab methods. Auctions are best described as sealed bid random n-th price and not the standard Vickery 2nd price auctions. I show that participants in these experiments respond to both food labels and information treatments, but no single type of information is dominant

Suggested Citation

  • Huffman, Wallace E., 2010. "Consumer acceptance of genetically modified foods: traits, labels and diverse information," ISU General Staff Papers 201008270700001120, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:isu:genstf:201008270700001120
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    1. Karavolias, Joanna & House, Lisa A., "undated". "Impact of Producer and Use of Biotechnology on Consumer Willingness to Pay: Discounts Required for Oranges Produced with Biotechnology," 2017 Annual Meeting, July 30-August 1, Chicago, Illinois 259981, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    2. Heiman, Amir, 2015. "Positioning GM Food Product : Benefits, risk and loss aversion considerations," GMCC-15: Seventh GMCC, November 17-20, 2015, Amsterdam, the Netherlands 211475, International Conference on Coexistence between Genetically Modified (GM) and non-GM based Agricultural Supply Chains (GMCC).
    3. Yang, Anton C., 2015. "Why public acceptance matters in GMO food markets?," Conference papers 332565, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.
    4. Heiman, Amir & Gordon, Ben & Zilberman, David, 2019. "Food beliefs and food supply chains: The impact of religion and religiosity in Israel," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 363-369.
    5. Fernandez-Cornejo, Jorge & Livingston, Michael J. & Mitchell, Lorraine & Wechsler, Seth, 2014. "Genetically Engineered Crops in the United States," Economic Research Report 164263, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.

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