Consumer willingness to pay for a mandatory country-of-origin labeling program is assessed. A consumer survey was conducted during 2002 in several grocery stores in Boulder, Denver, and Fort Collins, Colorado. Econometric results indicate that surveyed consumers are willing to pay an average of...

Changes in lifestyles and higher caloric consumption are contributing to increasing obesity rates around the world. This article discusses the role of these and other socioeconomic factors and the magnitude of societal costs caused by the increasing prevalence of obesity.

Country-of-origin labeling is now being considered as an alternative by the U.S. Senate. Research is still needed to determine what attributes consumers value in domestic versus imported beef, and to quantify the value that consumers place on country-of-origin labels. Preliminary results suggest...

In this paper, we assess consumer willingness to pay for a mandatory country-of-origin labeling (COOL) program applied to beef ribeye steaks, chicken breasts, and pork chops, all labeled as “Certified U.S.†products. A consumer survey was mailed in spring and early summer 2003 to...

This paper reports the main findings obtained from a U.S. consumer choice experiment regarding perceptions of food safety and meat attributes, and to the extent to which these attitudes translate into willingness-to-pay (WTP) for labeled ribeye steaks. The results indicate that USDA food safety...

The US population now leads the world in obesity rates. The estimated societal cost of the overweight and obesity issue exceeds $115 billion. Policy may play a role if economically justifiable but conflicting interests exist.

We conducted a survey and a randomized natural experiment with the same subjects to investigate the effect of information about calorie intake on fast food choices. This combined approach allows us to maximize both internal and external research validity and test consistency of findings. We find...