Trade, price and quality upgrading effects of agri-food standards
研究了各国公共强制性食品标准差异如何影响农业食品贸易、价格和产品质量升级，发现标准差异限制贸易但提高价格，对质量无显著影响。
Abstract This paper assesses how cross-country differences in public mandatory food standards affect trade, prices and product quality upgrading in the agri-food sector. We estimate different gravity-type models that exploit the bilateral difference in maximum residue limits (MRLs) over the period from 2005 to 2014 for 145 products across 59 countries. Our findings show that cross-country differences in MRLs restrict trade. However, conditional on trading, they increase product prices—even when we adjust prices for quality—with null effects on estimated product quality. These effects are pronounced for South–North trade but not for exports to the South.