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Informational shocks and street-food safety: A field study in urban India

Author

Listed:
  • Giammarco Daniele
  • Sulagna Mookerjee
  • Denni Tommasi

Abstract

Street-food safety is a public health concern in several developing countries. We investigate whether improvements in food safety can be achieved by providing information to vendors in the form of a training. Among randomly assigned groups of street-food vendors in urban Kolkata, India, we find large improvements in knowledge and awareness, but little changes in their observed behaviors. We provide suggestive evidence that a combination of both lack of demand for food safety and perceived high costs of hygiene practices for vendors, are likely to drive the results. We conclude that information is not the key constraint in this context

Suggested Citation

  • Giammarco Daniele & Sulagna Mookerjee & Denni Tommasi, 2018. "Informational shocks and street-food safety: A field study in urban India," Working Papers ECARES 2018-20, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    • Handle: RePEc:eca:wpaper:2013/275068
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Food Safety; Public Health; Street-Food; Hawkers; Trainings; RCT; Informal Sector;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • O17 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Formal and Informal Sectors; Shadow Economy; Institutional Arrangements

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