The Economics of Collective Reputation: Evidence from the Wine Industry

Stefano Castriota and Marco Delmastro

American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 2015, vol. 97, issue 2, 469-489

Abstract: We use original data regarding the array of Italian winery coalitions (wine denominations) to analyze the economics and determinants of collective reputation. We first run a cross-sectional analysis with 2008 data and the full set of control variables, then move to the dynamics of collective reputation with panel data analysis on a 30-year time span (1978-2008). Group reputation is history-dependent. In particular, past bad collective behavior increases the probability of being stuck in a "bad reputation trap" Minimum quality standards and effective enforcement are fundamental drivers of group reputation. The relationship between group size and collective reputation is non-linear: free entry may not be optimal due to free-riding problems. Finally, institutional signals such as the wine classification system are useful because they can be used by consumers as easily available proxies for information that is much more difficult to acquire.

Date: 2015
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (28)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/ajae/aau107 (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

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:oup:ajagec:v:97:y:2015:i:2:p:469-489.

Access Statistics for this article

American Journal of Agricultural Economics is currently edited by Madhu Khanna, Brian E. Roe, James Vercammen and JunJie Wu

More articles in American Journal of Agricultural Economics from Agricultural and Applied Economics Association Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Oxford University Press ().