Consumer Preferences: “Asiago Style” vs. Asiago
New research by AAEA members released in AEPP
Do labels on food product guide or deter you from purchasing it?
Under the new trade agreement between Canada and the EU (CETA), Canadian Cheese producers are precluded from labelling their cheese as asiago, feta, or gorgonzola. Instead, they must label their cheese using modifiers such as “asiago style,” “feta type,” or “imitation gorgonzola.”
In a new article released in the Applied Economic Perspectives & Policy, “Foreign Geographical Indications, Consumer Preferences, and the Domestic Market for Cheese,” authors Peter Slade from the University of Saskatchewan, along with Jeffrey Michler and Anna Josephson from the University of Arizona look into the recently signed trade agreement.
Slade says, “Overall, our results suggest that the details are very important when setting GI policies. We find that protecting GIs can generate significant gains for European producers, either through increased market shares or higher prices. However, we also find that domestic cheese producers can partially neutralize the effects of GI protection through the judicious selection of which modifying terms to use on their labels and the information provided to consumers. For policymakers who wish to preserve domestic industries while recognizing foreign GIs, it is therefore important to leave domestic firms with as much latitude as possible when marketing their products. Conversely, countries that want to protect their GIs should try to foreclose these avenues for product marketing.”
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ABOUT AAEA: Established in 1910, the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association (AAEA) is the leading professional association for agricultural and applied economists, with 2,500 members in more than 60 countries. Members of the AAEA work in academic or government institutions as well as in industry and not-for-profit organizations, and engage in a variety of research, teaching, and outreach activities in the areas of agriculture, the environment, food, health, and international development. The AAEA publishes two journals, the American Journal of Agricultural Economics and Applied Economic Perspectives & Policy, as well as the online magazine Choices and the online open access publication series Applied Economics Teaching Resources. To learn more, visit www.aaea.org.
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