Fishy Seafood Labeling

Sang-Hyun Kim and Hao Lan

No 2016rwp-101, Working papers from Yonsei University, Yonsei Economics Research Institute

Abstract: From 2010 to 2012, Oceana, an international non-profit organization conducted one of the largest investigations into seafood fraud in U.S. history, which revealed that less desirable or cheaper fish are frequently mislabeled as more desirable or expensive fish in grocery stores and restaurants. This paper theoretically and empirically investigates how economic factors such as the number of competitors in the region and the income level of the consumers can be related to the misdeeds of seafood merchants. Our theoretical model predicts that mislabeling is less likely in regions where (i) more sellers are in business and (ii) the average income level is higher. The empirical patterns found in the DNA test data of Oceana are in line with the predictions. Our results can inform regulators of which regions and fish species to focus on when auditing.

Keywords: Seafood fraud; Forensic economics; Regional competition; Experience goods; Unequal learning (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 34pages
Date: 2016-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:yon:wpaper:2016rwp-101

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