Consumer Demand for Quality: Major Determinant for Agricultural and Food Trade in the Future?

Julie Caswell () and Siny Joseph

No 7390, Working Paper Series from University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Department of Resource Economics

Abstract: The impact of consumer demand for quality on the agricultural and food system is an increased emphasis on quality differentiation but not all in the direction of upgrading quality. The more elite market segments are thriving and reaching growing numbers of consumers but the basic price/quality markets remain strong. Most recent economic studies find that consumers are willing to pay for food safety and other quality attributes, and for information about them. The magnitude of the valuations varies by food product, attribute, country, and study design. This literature and a case study of genetically modified foods suggest that consumer demand has a strong effect on agricultural and food trade.

Keywords: Demand and Price Analysis; Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 31
Date: 2007
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

Downloads: (external link)
https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/7390/files/wp070004.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: Consumer Demand for Quality: Major Determinant for Agricultural and Food Trade in the Future? (2007)
Working Paper: Consumer Demand for Quality: Major Determinant for Agricultural and Food Trade in the Future? (2007)
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:ags:umamwp:7390

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.7390

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Working Paper Series from University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Department of Resource Economics Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by AgEcon Search ().