Consumer demand for fair trade: Evidence from a multistore field experiment

• Autores: Jens Hainmueller, Michael J. Hiscox, Sandra Sequeira
• Localización: The Review of economics and statistics, ISSN 0034-6535, Vol. 97, Nº 2, 2015, págs. 242-256
• Idioma: inglés
• DOI: 10.1162/rest_a_00467
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• Resumen

  • 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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]