The organic food price premium and its susceptibility to news media coverage: Evidence from the U.S. milk industry

Gayle, Philip and Wang, Jin and Fang, Shengnan (2022): The organic food price premium and its susceptibility to news media coverage: Evidence from the U.S. milk industry. Forthcoming in: Applied Economics

Abstract

This paper investigates the extent to which media coverage on organic dairy issues influences consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) for the organic attribute of milk. We find that news with contents most often viewed as negative toward organic dairy are more powerful in decreasing consumers’ WTP for the organic attribute of milk compared to the positive WTP impact of news articles with contents most often viewed as positive toward organic dairy. Interestingly, consumers' increasing exposure to organic dairy news that even take a neutral stance on the organic attribute also increases their WTP for the organic attribute.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Organic Food; Organic Price Premium; Newspaper Coverage; Milk Industry
• Subjects: D - Microeconomics > D1 - Household Behavior and Family Economics > D10 - General; L - Industrial Organization > L1 - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance > L13 - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets; L - Industrial Organization > L1 - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance > L15 - Information and Product Quality ; Standardization and Compatibility; L - Industrial Organization > L8 - Industry Studies: Services > L82 - Entertainment ; Media; M - Business Administration and Business Economics ; Marketing ; Accounting ; Personnel Economics > M3 - Marketing and Advertising > M30 - General; Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q0 - General > Q00 - General

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