Pre- and during COVID-19: Households’ Willingness to Pay for Local Organic Food in Italy

Simona Bigerna, Andrea Marchini (), Silvia Micheli and Paolo Polinori
Additional contact information
Simona Bigerna: Department of Economics, University of Perugia, Via A. Pascoli, 20, 06123 Perugia, Italy
Andrea Marchini: Department of Agricultural, Food and Sciences, University of Perugia, Borgo XX Giugno, 74, 06121 Perugia, Italy
Silvia Micheli: Department of Economics, University of Perugia, Via A. Pascoli, 20, 06123 Perugia, Italy
Paolo Polinori: Department of Economics, University of Perugia, Via A. Pascoli, 20, 06123 Perugia, Italy

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 13, 1-18

Abstract: Food demand and food supply have been heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. To understand changes in households’ behavior related to the pandemic, we investigated the willingness to pay for local organic apples before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. We assessed the changes that occurred within families, estimating separate models for the two members of a couple. Our findings show that respondents have a positive price premium for local organic apples, whose consumption helps reduce the environmental costs associated with food production. The median estimated values during the pandemic ranged from 34% to 250%. Overall, respondents show a positive mean willingness to pay, which increased with the pandemic. The socio-economic variables are the most important in explaining the willingness to pay, while the behavioral variables have more heterogeneous results, even if lifestyle and the request for information through the label are also important variables. The pandemic tended to narrow the gaps in preferences between members of a couple. In conclusion, the local and organic dimensions are embodied in the short chain, in which knowledge and trust in the producer are crucial elements in the consumer’s choices.

Keywords: COVID-19; local and organic food; households’ decisions; contingent valuation; willingness to pay (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/13/10247/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/13/10247/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:13:p:10247-:d:1181635

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().