Food quality in domestic markets of developing economies: a comparative study of two countries
基于马达加斯加和印度的可比价格与交易数据，比较两国国内食品市场的质量水平及质量溢价，发现印度质量更好且溢价更高，与收入差距理论一致。
Abstract Food quality has become an important determinant of success in global food trade and growers for international markets have to continuously adjust to buyers’ requirements. It is, however, not clear to what extent there is a demand for food quality—and how much buyers are willing to pay for it—in domestic food markets of developing economies. Based on unique comparable price and trader data in a poor country in Africa (Madagascar) and an emerging economy in Asia (India), we compare food quality and quality's pricing. We find significantly better quality and higher quality premiums (using revealed as well as stated preference methods) in India than in Madagascar. These findings are consistent with a simple theoretical model, solely based on average income gaps between the two countries.