CONSUMER DEMAND FOR FAIR TRADE: EVIDENCE FROM A MULTISTORE FIELD EXPERIMENT

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Hainmueller, Jens; Hiscox, Michael J.; Sequeira, Sandra
• 署名单位: Stanford University; Harvard University; University of London; London School Economics & Political Science
• 刊物名称: REVIEW OF ECONOMICS AND STATISTICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0034-6535
• DOI: 10.1162/REST_a_00467
• 发表日期: 2015-05
• 页码: 242-256
• 关键词: EMPIRICAL-ANALYSIS; impure altruism; eco-labels; MARKET; price; QUALITY; charity; preferences; uncertainty; PRODUCTS

摘要

We provide new evidence on consumer demand for ethical products from experiments conducted in a U.S. grocery store chain. We find that sales of the two most popular coffees rose by almost 10% when they carried a Fair Trade label as compared to a generic placebo label. Demand for the higher-priced coffee remained steady when its price was raised by 8%, but demand for the lower-priced coffee was elastic: a 9% price increase led to a 30% decline in sales. While consumers attach value to ethical sourcing, there is significant heterogeneity in willingness to pay for it.