Willingness to pay for irradiated ground beef : a non-hypothetical market experiment /
Currently, one of the most controversial topics in the food industry is food irradiation. Despite the high level of safety in the US food supply, microbiological hazards exist. Illnesses and death due to foodborne pathogens cost society billions of dollars due to lost productivity and medical expens...
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| Format: | Thesis Book |
| Language: | English |
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[Place of publication not identified] :
[publisher not identified] ;
2003.
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://proxy.library.tamu.edu/login?url=http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=764818461&sid=1&Fmt=2&clientId=2945&RQT=309&VName=PQD |
| Summary: | Currently, one of the most controversial topics in the food industry is food irradiation. Despite the high level of safety in the US food supply, microbiological hazards exist. Illnesses and death due to foodborne pathogens cost society billions of dollars due to lost productivity and medical expenses. Food irradiation helps protect consumers from pathogens that cause thousand of deaths and millions of infections in the United States every year. Nevertheless, most consumers in the United States are still unfamiliar with the concept of food irradiation. The purpose of this study is to establish an empirical base regarding the commercial acceptance of irradiated ground beef in the marketplace. The consumer's "acceptance" of irradiated ground beef is important for its economic implications. The advantages of food irradiation must appeal to consumers or they will not buy the product. Data for this study were collected using face-to-face interviews at selected supermarkets in Texas from March-June 2002. The first chapter reviews the knowledge of irradiation technology, governmental agencies' requirements, and motivations for the study. The second chapter discusses consumer knowledge of irradiation and information effects on their self-perception of buying interest. The third chapter analyzes the three different treatments of income variables in willingness to pay (WTP) estimation: midpoint of the income categories, category values, and dummy income. The willingness to pay (WTP) measures the buying value of an object, but the willingness to accept (WTA) measures the selling value of the same object. The results suggest the dummied income treatment provides better economic interpretation than the other two measurements. Chapter four estimates the WTP and WTA for irradiated ground beef under two different models: the Single-Bounded (SB) Model and the One-and-One-Half Bounded (OOH) Model. The divergence of these two measurements (WTA/WTP ratios) in our study ranges from 0.885 to 1.082, which is much lower than average WTA/WTP ratios from previous studies. The fifth chapter presents conclusions and recommendations for further study. It addresses important issues that researchers should be aware of which might bias survey results. |
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| Item Description: | Vita. "Major Subject: Agricultural Economics". |
| Physical Description: | xi, 110 leaves : illustrations ; 28 cm. Issued also on microfiche from University Microfilm Inc. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (leaves 84-93). |