Distance isn’t dead: An empirical evaluation of food miles-based preference changes

John Ballingall and Niven Winchester
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John Ballingall: New Zealand Institute of Economic Research

No 2009/1, NZIER Working Paper from New Zealand Institute of Economic Research

Abstract: Food miles measure the distance food travels to reach consumers’ plates. Although substituting local food for imported produce will not necessarily reduce greenhousegas (GHG) emissions, the food miles movementis an intuitively appealing idea toconsumers and supported by import-competing producers. We investigate the economic implications of food miles-induced preference changes in Europe using a global, economy-wide model. We observe large welfare losses for New Zealand and several Sub-Saharan African nations.This suggests that food miles campaigns will increase global inequality without necessarily improving environmental outcomes. We then consider the implications of our results for New Zealand businesses and government agencies. We conclude that there is an ongoing requirement for careful monitoring of offshore consumer trends and that New Zealand firms need to demonstrate their sustainability credentials to avoid suffering negative demand shocks.

Keywords: food miles; non-tariff borders; trade protection (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D58 F18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 35 pages
Date: 2009-02-17
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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