Premium
What agricultural and food policies do U.S. consumers prefer? A best–worst scaling approach
Author(s) -
Caputo Vincenzina,
Lusk Jayson L.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
agricultural economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.29
H-Index - 82
eISSN - 1574-0862
pISSN - 0169-5150
DOI - 10.1111/agec.12542
Subject(s) - agriculture , public economics , economics , food policy , welfare , consumer welfare , public policy , set (abstract data type) , consumption (sociology) , agricultural economics , marketing , business , food security , economic growth , market economy , ecology , social science , sociology , computer science , programming language , biology
Consumer welfare effects from policy changes are traditionally calculated using estimates of consumer preferences for the underlying goods and services affected. This conventional approach is indirect, does not consider preferences people may have for the policies themselves, and makes it difficult to easily compare relative preferability of a large set of policy options. In this paper, we use the best–worst scaling approach to determine consumers’ preferences for 13 policies. A nationwide survey of 1,056 U.S. consumers indicates the highest levels of support for investments in agricultural research and requirements of food and agricultural literacy standards in public education. Fat, calorie, and soda taxes are the least popular; fewer than one‐third of respondents are in favor of these three policies.