The Effect of Information on Product Quality: Evidence from Restaurant Hygiene Grade Cards
研究洛杉矶县餐厅卫生等级卡如何促使餐厅提升卫生质量、消费者需求对卫生更敏感，并减少食源性疾病住院率。
This study examines the effect of an increase in product quality information to consumers on firms' choices of product quality. In 1998 Los Angeles County introduced hygiene quality grade cards to be displayed in restaurant windows. We show that the grade cards cause (i) restaurant health inspection scores to increase, (ii) consumer demand to become sensitive to changes in restaurants' hygiene quality, and (iii) the number of foodborne illness hospitalizations to decrease. We also provide evidence that this improvement in health outcomes is not fully explained by consumers substituting from poor hygiene restaurants to good hygiene restaurants. These results imply that the grade cards cause restaurants to make hygiene quality improvements.