TY - JOUR
T1 - Informational shocks and street-food safety
T2 - a field study in urban India
AU - Daniele, Gianmarco
AU - Mookerjee, Sulagna
AU - Tommasi, Denni
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Copyright:
Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2021/7/12
Y1 - 2021/7/12
N2 - We investigate whether improvements in street-food safety can be achieved by providing information to vendors in the form of a training. Among randomly assigned vendors in Kolkata, India, we find large improvements in knowledge and awareness but little change in observed behavior. We provide two main explanations for these findings. First, information acquisition by itself does not make it significantly easier for vendors to provide customers with safer food options. Second, although consumers have a positive willingness to pay for perceived hygiene, they struggle to distinguish between safe and contaminated food. We recommend policies targeting supply-side constraints and consumers’ awareness.
AB - We investigate whether improvements in street-food safety can be achieved by providing information to vendors in the form of a training. Among randomly assigned vendors in Kolkata, India, we find large improvements in knowledge and awareness but little change in observed behavior. We provide two main explanations for these findings. First, information acquisition by itself does not make it significantly easier for vendors to provide customers with safer food options. Second, although consumers have a positive willingness to pay for perceived hygiene, they struggle to distinguish between safe and contaminated food. We recommend policies targeting supply-side constraints and consumers’ awareness.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85110439356&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1162/rest_a_00913
DO - 10.1162/rest_a_00913
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85110439356
VL - 103
SP - 563
EP - 579
JO - Review of Economics and Statistics
JF - Review of Economics and Statistics
SN - 0034-6535
IS - 3
ER -