Measuring community retail activity

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Paying Americans to Take the Vaccine - Would it Help or Backfire?

This research investigates the extent to which financial incentives (conditional cash transfers) would induce Americans to opt for vaccination against COVID-19. We performed a randomized survey experiment with a representative sample of 1,000 American adults in December 2020. Respondents were asked whether they would opt for vaccination under one of three incentive conditions ($1,000,$1,500, or $2,000 financial incentive) or a no-incentive condition. We find that—without coupled financial incentives—only 58% of survey respondents would elect for vaccination. A coupled financial incentive yields an 8-percentage-point increase in vaccine uptake relative to this baseline. The size of the cash transfer does not dramatically affect uptake rates. However, incentive responses differ dramatically by demographic group. Republicans were less responsive to financial incentives than the general population. For Black and Latino Americans especially, very large financial incentives may be counter-productive

The economic geography of beer regulations

While the influence of regulations on economic outcomes has been well-documented, fewer studies have focused on the economic geography of regulatory burdens. The regulations confronting any supply chain can vary dramatically across legislative jurisdictions, as U.S. policy is enforced by overlapping federal, state, and local governments. In this paper the authors use a unique dataset to explore state-by-state regulatory variation in U.S. beer supply chains in 2020. They find that the state-level laws targeted at the beer supply chain vary between 1,177 and 25,399, with the average state implementing 10,212 formal regulatory restrictions

What Do Beer Laws Mean for Economic Growth?

A brief description of the negative impacts of heavy drinking is given along with a brief history of American beer laws. Recent research on the economic consequences of modern regulations suggests that while some beer laws might reduce alcohol consumption, they often generate many unintended consequences

Putting the Chicken Before the Egg Price: An Ex Post Analysis of California's Battery Cage Ban

California legislation outlawed the use and sale of battery cages for egg-laying hens in 2015. While a number of ex ante studies projected the effects of the housing prohibitions, the ultimate ex post effects are unknown. Using a price series reported by the USDA, we study the movement of daily egg prices in California and the United States before and after the law’s implementation. Depending on the methods used, we find that Californians now pay between $0.48 and$1.08 more for a dozen eggs. The estimates suggest an annual reduction in California consumer surplus of between $400 million and$850 million

How Markets Alleviate the Excessive Choice Effect: A Field Experiment on Craft Beer Choice

Research in psychology suggests that, somewhat paradoxically, providing consumers more choice can reduce the likelihood of making a purchase, producing the so-called excessive choice effect (ECE). To the extent the ECE exists, firms have an incentive to alleviate the effect through a variety of consumer-focused institutions that lower search costs. This study determines the effectiveness of three consumer-focused institutions on the excessive choice effect in a field experiment focused on beer sales in a restaurant. We manipulate the number of options on the menu (6 vs. 12) in addition to the use of search cost lowering consumer-focused institutions (a control, a menu, a menu with a special prominently displayed, a menu with local options prominently highlighted, and a menu with beer advocate scores). Although we find that consumers tend to be more likely to order beer when presented 6 rather than 12 options, the differences are often not significant depending which data are used and how it is analyzed. Highlighting specials or listing beer rankings have an effect on consumer choices, and have the potential to decrease the excessive choice effect. The experiment also suggests including a special is the most effective way to increase sales of a product category, but not the specific product itself

Can liberalization of local food marketing channels influence local economies? A case study of West Virginia’s craft beer distribution laws

Over the past decade, local food systems have been identified as having a significant influence on regional economies. Using a recent change in West Virginia’s craft beer distribution laws as a case study, we show that although employment might not experience a statistically significant change due to additional legalized marketing channels, wages did experience a significant increase. Our findings suggest that state economies might benefit from reducing restrictions on small, local producers

Envisioning the Future of Michigan's Agricultural Economy

At the direction of the Michigan Farm Bureau, ten agricultural economists responded to a five-question survey in May 2020 to explore the future of the Michigan agricultural economy. Eight agricultural economists from Michigan State University, one agricultural economist from Kansas State University, and one agricultural economist from Purdue University responded. Michigan’s economy was exceptionally impacted by the COVID-19 Pandemic, leading to historic increases in unemployment rates in metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties alike. In April 2019, 628,885 Michigan households participated in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program; 1,150,697 Michigan households participated by April 2020. This 83.0% increase in participation dwarfs the average change in the United States (17.9%). The remainder of the document synthesizes responses and highlights some of the more distinctive comments. Of course, the economists interviewed all noted an important caveat: all discussions of the future are largely contingent on the outcome of COVID-19. As noted by Tonsor, “I think ‘accurate’ answers here hinge notably on if we are wrapping up the worst of COVID or not - that is a human health, speed of vaccine, and medicine question that we can’t answer.” Furthermore, Swinton notes that ongoing macroeconomic trends make the future of agriculture largely dependent on economic growth across the world, as “economic recession/depression would lead to lower demand and lower prices for agricultural products.

Theme Overview: The Economics of U.S. Aquaculture

Aquaculture production is growing, but production in the United States is growing less rapidly than in the rest of the world. Choices is featuring articles on social and economic issues in U.S. aquaculture