What’s in a Price? The Impact of Starting Point Bias in WTP for Information in Taiwanese Wet Markets

Shang-Ho Yang and Diogo Souza Monteiro

No 235766, 2016 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Boston, Massachusetts from Agricultural and Applied Economics Association

Abstract: Traditional markets in Asian countries still account for the majority of fresh meat, fish and vegetable purchases. One of the reasons for their popularity is the relational trust between vendors and buyers. This trust may justify the limited availability of information on origin or production methods and other attributes of foods sold in these markets. However, a number of recent food safety outbreaks and food fraud cases raised consumer and government concerns on over the level information in these markets and ignited a reflection of possible action. This study aims to determine the consumer willingness to pay (WTP) for fresh meat traceability and free growth hormone information traditional markets in Taiwan. To estimate the values of information the payment card method was employed and to account for the starting point bias, the sample was divided into different treatments each with a different price of meat. A total of 2,381 completed survey were collected in mid-July, 2015. An interval regression model is utilized to examine how much consumers would be willing to pay for addition product information. The results suggest that WTP of information not consistent among groups with different starting point scenarios. There was a significant difference between respondents that were not given any indication of the price per quantity of meat and those that were prompted with a market price. Interestingly, we found that consumers treat the information of growth hormone-free examination and traceability differently.

Keywords: Consumer/Household Economics; Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety; Marketing; Research Methods/ Statistical Methods (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 19
Date: 2016-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-mkt and nep-sea
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:aaea16:235766

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.235766

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