Initial endowment effects in Multi-Unit Vickrey auctions

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A theoretical and empirical investigation of nutritional label use

Due in part to increasing diet-related health problems caused, among others, by obesity, nutritional labelling has been considered important, mainly because it can provide consumers with information that can be used to make informed and healthier food choices. Several studies have focused on the empirical perspective of nutritional label use. None of these studies, however, have focused on developing a theoretical economic model that would adequately describe nutritional label use based on a utility theoretic framework. We attempt to fill this void by developing a simple theoretical model of nutritional label use, incorporating the time a consumer spends reading labels as part of the food choice process. The demand equations of the model are then empirically tested. Results suggest the significant role of several variables that flow directly from the model which, to our knowledge, have not been used in any previous empirical work

Assessing consumers’ willingness to pay for different units of organic milk: evidence from multi-unit auctions

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Italian Consumer Acceptance of Nutritionally Enhanced GM Food

The aim of this article is to evaluate if Italian consumers have higher acceptance and willingness-to-buy for \u201csecond generation\u201d GM foods, i.e.those with an output trait benefit (i.e. nutritionally enhanced) rather than those of first generation, that is with the traditional input trait benefit (i.e., reduced pesticides). Multinomial logit models are estimated to examine the effect of various factors on consumers\u2019 willingness to purchase GM foods without or with nutritionally enhanced attributes. The data collected in the 2005 survey are compared with the results obtained in a previous study performed in 2004, in order to highlight possible changes in consumers attitude and preferences. It comes out that the majority of respondents still do not want to buy GM products, but the average acceptance increased from 2004 to 2005 for plant-based food. This study confirmed the key role of information strategies to the consumers. In fact one of the most relevant results is in the role of distorted information in raising the level of fear and the perception of risk by the consumers. The involved subjects in which the Italians seem to put the higher level of confidence are the scientists, who are traditionally seen as independent from the industry. Individuals that usually consume and buy enhanced food products result to have a higher probability to buy a GM product in which biotechnology is used to increase vitamin content

Are Preferences for Food Quality Attributes Really Normally Distributed? An Analysis using Flexible Mixing Distributions

We empirically question the commonly invoked assumption of normality of taste distribution in mixed logit models with continuous random parameters. We use a WTP-space random utility discrete choice model with flexible distributions on data from two choice experiments regarding beef with nested set of quality attributes. We specifically focus on distributional features such as asymmetry, multi-modality and range of variation, and find little support for normality. Our results are robust to attribute dimensionality in experimental design. Implications of our results for practitioners in the field are discussed

Welfare Effects of Food Miles Labels

We assessed the consumer welfare effects of two generic food miles labels: carbon dioxide (CO2) emission label and number of miles label. Using data from a choice experiment, our results generally suggest that a mandatory labeling policy for either type of label would have a positive welfare effect on both informed and uninformed consumers. However, a label informing consumers about the number of miles the food product has travelled provides greater positive welfare effects than a label informing consumers about the amount of CO2 emission

Effect of price-discount distribution in multi-unit price promotions on sales value of a new product: evidence from multi-unit auctions.

Postprint (published version

Effect of price-discount distribution in multi-unit price promotions on sales value of a new product: evidence from multi-unit auctions.

Postprint (published version