Warning labels on unhealthy food products are an increasingly common policy tool to combat obesity. Although informing consumers usually improves their welfare, supply-side responses can either offset or amplify the positive effects of food labels. This paper studies the equilibrium effects of a...

A packaging supplier for a pharmaceutical firm proposes an innovative cost-saving measure for the next clinical trial: instead of dozens of custom labels for participating countries, the company can create one universal booklet label with a page for each. A senior clinical-supplies manager must...

This paper describes the incentives for firms to seek voluntary product safety certifications. We consider a firm which makes the decision of whether or not to seek certification prior to selling the product. We show that, even when the firm and the consumers have same beliefs about the product...

We study the adoption, diffusion, and impacts of the Universal Product Code (UPC) between 1975 and 1992, during the initial years of the barcode system. We find evidence of network effects in the diffusion process. Matched-sample difference-in-difference estimates show that firm size and...

In the EU, the number of voluntary food schemes has grown rampantly over the past 20 years. From a consumer perspective, what was initially praised as a solution to the information asymmetry problem of credence goods soon became a problem of itself: consumers do not know what the various food...

This book chapter explores some non-conventional applications of the label of “terrorism” and considers calls for continued expansion of the definition of terrorism to encompass crimes that have not traditionally been considered terrorism. Part one briefly lays out the working definition of...

The government-sponsored Five-Star Quality Rating System (FSQRS) aggregates multiple measures of nursing home quality into a standardized overall rating. Previous research has found that the FSQRS affected consumer demand and correspondingly motivated a strategic shift towards competing for...

The United States, in 2018, implemented a nationwide requirement that chain restaurants disclose calorie information on their menus and menu boards. This law was motivated by concern that consumers underestimate the number of calories in restaurant food, but it remains unclear the extent to...