Growing their own: Unobservable quality and the value of self-provisioning

Vivian Hoffmann and Ken Gatobu

No 150004, 2013 Annual Meeting, August 4-6, 2013, Washington, D.C. from Agricultural and Applied Economics Association

Abstract: Many important food quality and safety attributes are unobservable at the point of sale, particularly in informal markets with weak reputation effects. Through a framed field experiment conducted in western Kenya, we show that farmers place a large premium on maize they have grown themselves, relative to that available for purchase. Providing information on the origin of maize, and on its taste and safety, reduces this gap. We conclude that information which is unavailable during typical market transactions is important to how consumers value maize, and that imperfect information may contribute to the prevalence of agricultural production for subsistence needs in developing countries.

Keywords: Demand and Price Analysis; Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety; International Development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 40
Date: 2013
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr and nep-iue
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:aaea13:150004

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.150004

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