Willingness to Pay versus Expected Consumption Value in Vickrey Auctions for New Experience Goods

Over the past two decades, Vickrey auctions have been widely used to elicit willingness to pay for new food products. This article shows that in a multiperiod context, it can be optimal for consumers to bid higher than the expected consumption value for a new experience good to obtain information about how the new good fits into their preference set. The degree of uncertainty about the consumption value, the purchasing frequency, and expected future market prices affect both the expected value of the quality information and the subgame perfect bidding strategy in Vickrey auctions for new experience goods. Copyright 2007, Oxford University Press.

European Consumers' Willingness to Pay for U.S. Beef in Experimental Auction Markets

Consumers' willingness to pay for Irish, Norwegian, U.S. hormone-free, and U.S. hormone-treated beef was studied in an experimental auction market. We ran four simultaneous second-price auctions to elicit efficiently the complete distribution of willingness to pay differences among our four alternatives. Most participants preferred domestic to imported beef, and half the participants preferred Irish to U.S. hormone-free beef. Hormone-treated beef received the lowest mean bid, but 28% of the participants were indifferent or preferred U.S. hormone-treated to U.S. hormone-free beef. Copyright 2003, Oxford University Press.

Consumer Demand for a Ban on Antibiotic Drug Use in Pork Production

Both bodies of the U.S. Congress have recently considered legislation to restrict use of antibiotics in livestock feed. Although several studies have addressed the costs of such restrictions, little is known about consumer demand. This study estimates consumers' willingness to pay for pork produced without subtherapeutic antibiotics and consumers' willingness to contribute to a reduction in antibiotic resistance by collecting data in a grocery store environment with mechanisms that involve the exchange of real food and real money. Results indicate that the welfare effects of a ban depend heavily on assumptions about consumers' current knowledge about antibiotic use in pork production and the extent to which consumers are currently able to purchase antibiotic-free pork. Copyright 2006, Oxford University Press.