Food fraud: economic insights into the dark side of incentives

In this review, we contextualise the articles in this special issue, relating them to existing food fraud research, and identify food fraud research trends, challenges and priorities for the near term. We accomplish these aims through a comprehensive review of research by food scientists, economists, other social scientists, legal experts, government research groups and international trade organisations. Existing food fraud research is heavily weighted towards food science, packaging and labelling, and legal areas of knowledge discovery. Moving forward, research is needed pertaining to general economic welfare outcomes from food fraud incidences, economic incentives to deter frauds, economic spillovers from fraud incidences to other food products and markets (domestic and international) and further delineation of the effect of different types of food fraud on consumer and producer welfare. The articles in this special issue make significant contributions to understanding of the role of food fraud in consumer decisions, measuring consumer welfare losses from fraud, food fraud spillover effects to other markets and new frameworks for fraud analysis.     

Consumer Quality Perception in Traditional Food: Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese

Abstract

The paper aims to classify the quality cues and attributes of grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, an Italian traditional food cheese, exploring if they affect consumers’ quality perceptions and expectations. Analysis is based on a questionnaire administered in hypermarkets where grated Parmigiano Reggiano is sold. A factor analysis, using varimax rotation, and a cluster analysis, were performed, using the Stata 12 software package. The clusters used were: geographical origin and packaging (cluster 1); price, brand and quality certification (cluster 2); all sensory attributes (cluster 3); and a combination of sensory attributes with price, brand, and quality certification (cluster 4). This is the first study to examine the quality cues and attributes affecting quality perception and expectations of cheese for grated Parmigiano Reggiano from a consumer perspective. It is also the first to classify cheese attributes following a quality approach, encompassing previously studied sensory and other attributes.     

Ambiguity of measured WTP for quality improvements when quantity is unconstrained: a note

This paper addresses the issue of how to estimate by contingentvaluation methods the maximum price consumers are willing topay when a new quality is available for a market good for whichquantity adjustments are possible. We argue that current practice,which typically does not specify a quantity when asking consumersthe price they are willing to pay for a new quality product,fails to identify prospective consumers' behaviour when theyare free to adjust the quantity purchased. Theoretical modelsare discussed for assessing the maximum price consumers arewilling to pay in these cases, and econometric approaches toaddress these situations are discussed.     

Modelling Deforestation and Land‐Use Change: Sparse Data Environments

Land‐use change in developing countries is of great interest to policy‐makers and researchers with diverse interests. Concerns about consequences of deforestation for global climate change and biodiversity have received the most publicity, but loss of wetlands, declining land productivity and watershed management are also problems facing developing countries. Analyses of these problems are especially constrained by lack of data. This article reviews modelling approaches for data‐constrained environments that involve discrete choice methods including neural nets and dynamic programming, and research results that link individual household survey data with satellite images using geographic positioning systems.     

Moonlighting Politicians: Motivation Matters!

We study self‐selection into politics and effort once in office of citizens with different abilities and motivations in a framework where moonlighting is allowed. We find that high‐ability motivated (public‐fit) politicians exert higher effort in politics than high‐ability non‐motivated (market‐fit) politicians, and that high‐ability citizens, both public‐fit and market‐fit, may decide to enter politics. We test our predictions using a database of Italian parliamentarians for the period 1996–2006. We find evidence of advantageous selection of both market‐fit and public‐fit parliamentarians. We also show that public‐fit parliamentarians have higher voting attendance and that only voting attendance of market‐fit parliamentarians is negatively affected by income opportunities.     

Embodied technological change in supplier dominated firms

This paper identifies the role of new capital goods as the main external source of innovation for supplier dominated firms belonging to traditional consumer good industries. After a brief survey on the role of inter-industry technology flows, the results of a field study are presented concerning the amount of technological change embodied in the new machinery acquired during the 1980s by a sample of Italian manufacturing firms producing traditional consumer goods. We show that industries and firms differ in the quality of technological change embodied in (or allowed by) new capital goods, and that such differences depend on industry-specific and firm-specific factors. The former primarily refer to product characteristics, the latter mainly to the age and the affiliation of the firm with an industrial group. The final section contains some policy suggestions for fostering the diffusion of new machinery (embodying technological change) among small firms and traditional industries.     

Market impacts of the 2020 short selling bans

At the height of the COVID-19 related market stress in March 2020, six European countries implemented market-wide short selling bans. Based on a difference-in-difference approach using regulatory data, our estimation finds that the bans are associated with a deterioration in liquidity and trading volumes, and a decrease in volatility, without evidence of price impact. Remarkably, the negative impact persisted after the bans' lift. Liquidity deterioration appears stronger for liquid shares- large-cap, highly fragmented stocks, and stocks with listed derivatives. Sectoral effects are noticed for the stocks most affected by the market stress. Finally, no displacement effect was observed.     

Asset liquidity and financial contracts: Evidence from aircraft leases

Financial contracting theories agree that more-liquid assets decrease the expected cost of external financing, thus making leasing more attractive and reducing lessors’ equilibrium return. However, the literature has ambiguous predictions about the effect of liquidity on the maturity of leases. These predictions are further complicated by the existence of two types of lease contracts—operating and capital—that differ in whether asset ownership transfers to the lessee at the end of the contract. Using data from commercial aircraft, I find that more-liquid assets (1) make leasing, operating leasing in particular, more likely; (2) have shorter operating leases; (3) have longer capital leases; and (4) command lower markups of operating lease rates.     

The effects of universities' proximity to industrial districts on university–industry collaboration

There is increasing awareness that university–industry collaboration provides an important knowledge transfer channel and, thus, is a powerful driver of innovation. Universities are increasingly being asked to play incisive roles in the process of regional economic development. This paper assesses the extent to which university–industry collaboration, expressed in terms of private funding for university consulting research activities, is affected by the geographic proximity of an academic institution to an Industrial District (ID). Although the economic literature insists on the positive effects of proximity for these collaborations, empirical work on Italian ID so far shows no particular effects. This paper provides new insights into the effects of academic proximity to ID on university–industry collaboration, by presenting robust evidence that proximity to districts promotes the establishment of collaboration agreements. This sheds new light on the need for targeted policies to support local productive systems. The empirical evidence is based on an analysis of qualitative information and an econometric analysis of financial data for the whole population of Italian university departments engaged in research in the Engineering and Physical Sciences.     

Optimal safety stock levels of subassemblies and manufacturing components

In order to control the time to market and manufacturing costs, companies produce and purchase many parts and components before receiving customer orders. Consequently, demand forecasting is a critical decision process. Using modular product design and super bills of materials are two effective strategies for developing a reliable demand forecasting process. They reduce the probability of stockouts in diversified production contexts. Furthermore, managing and controlling safety stocks for pre-assembled modules provide an effective solution to the problem of minimizing the effects of forecast errors. This paper develops, evaluates, and applies innovative cost-based analytical models so that the optimal safety stock of modular subassemblies and components in assembly to order and manufacturing to order systems, respectively, can be rapidly quantified. The implementation of the proposed models in two industrial case applications demonstrates that they significantly reduce the safety stock inventory levels and the global logistical cost.