Making the ‘right’ choice based on experiments: regulatory decisions for food and health

This article shows how experiments revealing information about food quality and safety can contribute to regulatory debates on food and health. After detailing the motivations of regulation for the food sector, we underline the limits of theoretical welfare analysis. Despite challenges from behavioural economics, cost-benefit analysis using experimental results can complement theoretical analysis. In a brief review of laboratory and field experiments with food, we discuss their relative strengths and weaknesses and suggest an analytical approach of how to integrate experimental data into welfare analysis. An empirical application quantifies and compares the welfare impact of health information and a subsidy for fish.