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Can agricultural traders be trusted? Evidence from urban coffee markets in Ethiopia:

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  • Assefa, Thomas Woldu
  • Minten, Bart

Abstract

Traditional food marketing systems in developing countries are often not trusted. In consequence, policy makers frequently try to regulate them and modern market arrangements increasingly are emerging to address some of their presumed deficiencies. However, it is unclear how trustworthy these markets actually are and if and to what extent regulation and modernization affects market governance. In this paper we look at the case of coffee in urban settings in Ethiopia to test trustworthiness along three dimensions of trade transactions - weights, quality, and the presence of illegal trade. We find that traders are relatively trustworthy on observable quality characteristics and weights.

Suggested Citation

  • Assefa, Thomas Woldu & Minten, Bart, 2015. "Can agricultural traders be trusted? Evidence from urban coffee markets in Ethiopia:," ESSP working papers 72, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    • Handle: RePEc:fpr:esspwp:72
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    Cited by:

    1. Ebata, Ayako & Hüttel, Silke, 2015. "Do development projects link smallholders to markets?," GlobalFood Discussion Papers 204326, Georg-August-Universitaet Goettingen, GlobalFood, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development.
    2. Gelaw, F., 2018. "Impacts of Trademarking on Export and Producer Prices in Ethiopian Coffee," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 277290, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    3. Ebata, Ayako & Huttel, Silke, 2015. "Do development projects link smallholdrs to markets?," 2015 Conference, August 9-14, 2015, Milan, Italy 211583, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    4. Minten, Bart & Dereje, Mekdim & Engeda, Ermias & Kuma, Tadesse, 2015. "Coffee value chains on the move: Evidence from smallholder coffee farmers in Ethiopia:," ESSP working papers 76, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    5. Tröster, Bernhard, 2015. "Global commodity chains, financial markets, and local market structures: Price risks in the coffee sector in Ethiopia," Working Papers 56, Austrian Foundation for Development Research (ÖFSE).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Sustainability; coffee; exports; Commodities; Quality; urban areas; trade; Retail marketing; value chains; high value agricultural products;
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