SHOULD THE UNITED STATES REGULATE MANDATORY LABELING FOR GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOODS?

Wallace Huffman, Matthew C. Rousu, Jason Shogren and Abebayehu Tegene

No 18215, Working Papers from Iowa State University, Department of Economics

Abstract: Public debate continues over whether the United States should regulate genetically modified (GM) foods by imposing a mandatory labeling policy. This paper develops a model that shows that a voluntary GM-labeling policy results in higher welfare than a regulated mandatory GM-labeling policy, if consumers can accurately read the signals in each market. We then develop an experiment that shows consumers behave as if they can accurately identify signals for GM foods. Our model and results support the perspective that the United States has been prudent in fending off calls for regulations demanding a mandatory GM-labeling policy.

Keywords: Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety; Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 46
Date: 2002
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Working Paper: Should the United States Regulate Mandatory Labeling for Genetically Modified Foods? (2002)
Working Paper: Should the United States Regulate Mandatory Labeling for Genetically Modified Foods? (2002)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:genres:18215

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.18215

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