Some like it healthy: demand for functional products in the Italian yogurt market

Despite the significant interest shown by academics as to investigating the market of functional foods, little empirical research has used market data to infer on the characteristics of functional foods’ consumers via demand analysis. Using a discrete choice (nested-logit) model and scanner data of yogurt purchases in the Italian market, this paper analyzes the demand for both conventional and functional yogurts assessing also the role of health-related demographics as shifters. The empirical results show that, in the category analyzed, while higher prices are still a deterrent for the success of some functional products, drinkable functional yogurts appear successfully differentiated, benefitting from a relatively low own-price elasticity of demand. The results suggest also that health-related consumers’ characteristics play an important role in shifting the demand for yogurts (both conventional and functional), indicating that, consistently with previous findings, consumers aiming to improve (or maintain) their health status are more inclined to buy functional products than conventional ones.Functional foods, health-conscious consumers, nested-logit, yogurt., Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

Wal-Mart, Oligopsony Power and Entry: an Analysis of Local Labor Markets

Wal-Mart, the largest retailer worldwide, has been suspected of exercising market power over input providers, both merchandise suppliers and workers. However, in spite of a growing body of literature investigating the beneficial economic impact of the company through its price-lowering effect, research analyzing the company’s economic impact over input suppliers is limited. This paper presents a general framework which can be used to investigate Wal-Mart’s market power over input suppliers, vis-à-vis a variation in input productivity, focusing on homogenous intermediate goods supplied locally. The model is general enough to account for incumbents’ reaction to Wal-Mart’s entry resulting in exit, entry and changes in the production technology. A simplified version of the theoretical model is tested using data on local labor markets. Preliminary results show Wal-Mart having a wage lowering effect due mainly to the increased productivity of labor, while the increase in oligopsony power counts only for 15% of such effect.Wal-Mart, oligopsony power, entry, wages, Industrial Organization, Labor and Human Capital, L13, L81, J42,

Health Claims Regulation and Welfare

Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006, 20 December 2006, requires functional foods manufacturers operating in Europe to provide evidence that the health claims reported on the packaging are truthful. However, most applications reviewed by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) have been rejected, leaving food manufacturers with the option of either selling products deprived of their claims or discontinuing their production. This paper analyzes changes in welfare (both producers’ and consumers’) that would occur if the implementation of Reg. (EC) No 1924/2006 resulted in a large-scale health-claim de-labeling of functional food products. To that end, we use one year (2007) of monthly scanner data of sales of conventional and functional yogurt in the Italian market and a discrete-choice random coefficient logit demand model which accounts for consumers’ heterogeneity using the MPEC algorithm developed by Dube et al. (2009) to improve numerical efficiency and accuracy, to assess the issue. Preliminary results show that both producers and consumers can be severely impacted if reporting health-claims on functional products is not allowed; as our results indicate that consumers’ welfare losses are twice as large than producers’ a loosening of EFSA’s requirements might be required to avoid such losses.Health claims regulation, EFSA, welfare, random coefficients, MPEC., Agricultural and Food Policy, Demand and Price Analysis, Industrial Organization, Marketing, Q18, L66, M38,

Food Access and Food Security – An Empirical Analysis

This paper analyzes the effect of access to different types of food outlets on households’ food insecurity levels. Two years (2004 and 2005) of Current Population Survey – Food Security Supplement data are matched with MSA-level data on store counts of Wal-Mart Supercenters, small food stores (small grocery stores and convenience stores), medium and large grocery stores, and convenience stores associated with gas stations. Endogeneity of food stores’ location is accounted for to eliminate spurious correlation between households’ food security status and food access. Preliminary results indicate that, before accounting for endogeneity bias, the presence of Wal-Mart supercenters appears to be associated to higher levels of households’ food insecurity, while the presence of other food stores is associated with lower levels. After eliminating spurious correlation, only the presence of small food stores appears helping to reduce food insecurity (across measures of food insecurity and data samples) while the presence of gas convenience stores is associated with higher likelihoods of experiencing food insecurity. The presence of Wal-Mart supercenters and that of medium and large grocery stores have little to no impact on the likelihood of a household being food insecure (the first showing only weak evidence of a mitigating effect, the second, instead, showing weak evidence of a magnifying effect).Food Security, Food Access, 2-Stage Residual Inclusion, Wal-Mart, Convenience Stores, Grocery Stores, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Security and Poverty, Industrial Organization, Q18, L81, P46,

Sociology of Agriculture and Food Beginning and Maturity: The Contribution of the Missouri School (1976-1994)

Sociology of agriculture and food (SAF) is one of the most visible substantive subareas in Rural Sociology and a growing subarea in Sociology. While the studying of agriculture has always been a part of Rural Sociology, it was in the 1970s that the process that led to a clear and formal distinction between Rural Sociology and SAF began. SAF grew stronger in the 1980s and became established in the 1990s. This paper reviews salient theoretical and historical events that engendered the establishment and growth of SAF as a separate substantive area from Rural Sociology. Additionally, it reviews its development in the United States in relation to a movement that has been global since its onset. In particular, the paper addresses the ways in which SAF developed at the University of Missouri-Columbia under the intellectual leadership of William Heffernan. Heffernan’s “radical” reading of, and methodological approach to, the evolution of agriculture and food are compared with other popular views of, and approaches to, SAF such as the Marxist and the Constructionist. It is argued that Heffernan’s approach is grounded in the American theoretical tradition of Pragmatic Democracy exemplified by the classical work of John Dewey. Research on SAF produced at the University of Missouri-Columbia became highly visible as SAF reached its maturity in the mid-1990s. Heffernan’s intellectual contribution remains most influential in current salient debates within SAF

Governance, Globalization, and the State

Commentary first published in the Journal of Rural Social Sciences. Copyright is owned by Southern Rural Sociological AssociationAt the outset of the second decade of the twenty-first century, rural sociology in general, and agrifood studies in particular, are characterized by a growing interest in the analysis of “governance.” In many respects, this is a surprising event as only a little over a decade ago, this topic was virtually absent from the many debates on rural and agrifood issues. Yet, there is very little disagreement on the reasons for the recent development of studies on governance. Globalization and the changed role of the state that it engendered are often cited among such reasons.Sociolog

Decentralization, Informalization, and the State: A Reinterpretation of the Farm Crisis in the U.S.

The paper presents a critical reinterpretation of the farm crisis and of the related phenomena of industrial decentralization and informalization. It is argued that the present farm crisis is new only in qualitative terms, as 'the farming sector experienced similar crises in different periods of U.s. history. It is also pointed out that only some segments of the farming sector are experiencing this crisis, while others are growing and profiting from the present conjuncture. The crisis of the middle sector of American agriculture and the growth of part-time farming free rural labor into the market and reduce the cost of land. These factors, coupled with a restructuring process in the industrial sector, fuel the processes of decentralization and informalization in rural areas. The State is a principal actor in this process: in the attempt to generate accumulation and maintain legitimation, it encourages the exploitation of inexpensive resources and labor. State support of industrial decentralization and its present posture toward farm programs generate contradictions. It is impossible for the State to support present patterns of accumulation and legitimation while simultaneously encouraging patterns of development in rural areas. Growth with underdevelopment may ultimately result from State action

Softening of the equation of state of matter at large densities and temperatures: chiral symmetry restoration vs. quark deconfinement

We discuss two models for describing the behavior of matter at large densities and intermediate temperatures. In both models a softening of the equation of state takes place due to the appearance of new degrees of freedom. The first is a hadronic model in which the softening is due to chiral symmetry restoration. In the second model the softening is associated with the formation of clusters of quarks in the mixed phase. We show that both models allow a significant softening but, in the first case the bulk modulus is mainly dependent on the density, while in the mixed phase model it also strongly depends on the temperature. We also show that the bulk modulus is not vanishing in the mixed phase due to the presence of two conserved charges, the baryon and the isospin one. Only in a small region of densities and temperatures the incompressibility becomes extremely small. Finally we compare our results with recent analysis of heavy ion collisions at intermediate energies.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, editorially accepted versio

A chiral lagrangian with Broken Scale: testing the restoration of symmetries in astrophysics and in the laboratory

We study matter at high density and temperature using a chiral lagrangian in which the breaking of scale invariance is regulated by the value of a scalar field, called dilaton \cite{Heide:1993yz,Carter:1995zi,Carter:1996rf,Carter:1997fn}. We provide a phase diagram describing the restoration of chiral and scale symmetries. We show that chiral symmetry is restored at large temperatures, but at low temperatures it remains broken at all densities. We also show that scale invariance is more easily restored at low rather than large baryon densities. The masses of vector mesons scale with the value of the dilaton and their values initially slightly decrease with the density but then they increase again for densities larger than $\sim 3 \rho_0$. The pion mass increases continuously with the density and at $\rho_0$ and T=0 its value is $\sim$ 30 MeV larger than in the vacuum. We show that the model is compatible with the bounds stemming from astrophysics, as e.g. the one associated with the maximum mass of a neutron star. The most striking feature of the model is a very significant softening at large densities, which manifests also as a strong reduction of the adiabatic index. While the softening has probably no consequence for Supernova explosion via the direct mechanism, it could modify the signal in gravitational waves associated with the merging of two neutron stars.Comment: 16 pages, 18 figures, published versio