Measuring preferences for genetically modified food products

Charles Noussair (1) , Stéphane Robin (2) , Bernard Ruffieux (3)

1 Krannert School of Management
2 GATE Lyon Saint-Étienne - Groupe d'Analyse et de Théorie Economique Lyon - Saint-Etienne
3 GAEL - Laboratoire d'Economie Appliquée = Grenoble Applied Economics Laboratory

This chapter surveys three studies. The first two consider empirical questions related to the willingness to pay for food products with genetically modified content, and the third compares two different techniques to elicit willingness to pay. The results of the first experiment show a sharp contrast to the predominantly negative view of French survey respondents toward genetically modified organisms in food products. In our experiment, we observe a wide range of revealed preferences. Whereas 35 percent of the subjects absolutely refused to purchase a product containing GMOs, the remaining 65 percent of the subjects were willing to purchase a GM product if it was sufficiently inexpensive. Nearly one quarter of participants showed no decrease in their willingness to pay in response to learning that a product contained GMOs.

Mots clés: consentement a payer; genetically modified organism; experimental economics; willingness to pay

Domaines: Economies et finances; Economies et finances

Charles Noussair, Stéphane Robin, Bernard Ruffieux. Measuring preferences for genetically modified food products. Todd Cherry, Stephan Kroll and Jason Shogren (Eds.). Experimental Methods in Environmental Economics, Routledge, pp. 344-365, 2008, Routledge Explorations in Environmental Economics, 978-0-415-77072-9. ⟨halshs-00439275⟩