Two interested parties dominate the current debate on genetically modified (GM) foods: environmental groups and agribusiness companies. For the average consumer to arrive at an informed decision on these new foods, they must rely on information from interested parties. Unfortunately, information...

Genetically modified (GM) foods have caused many controversies. One important controversy relates to tolerance?the impurity rate that is tolerated before a commodity must be labeled as genetically modified. Currently, the United States does not have a specific tolerance or threshold level for GM...

This paper addressed the puzzling resistance of Presidents of southern African countries to food aid in 2002, given near certain starvation and long-term negative health effects of malnutrition of their constituents.  First, I show that NGOs led by Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth are...

To be effective, groups that disseminate information need the trust of consumers. When multiple groups provide conflicting information on a new product or process like GM-foods, consumers place different levels of trust in the various sources. We present a model of the contributions of personal...

In most environments, information is critical to consumersï¾’ decision making. Consumers have prior beliefs about quality and price of goods and services and obtain new information which is used to update these prior beliefs or to form posterior beliefs, i.e., Bayesian learning. New food...

Huffman, Wallace E., Matthew Rousu, J.F. Shogren, and A. Tegene. "The Welfare of Implementing Mandatory GM Labeling in the United States," in R.E. Evenson and V. Santaniello, Eds., Consumer Acceptance of Biotechnology Foods, CAB International, forthcoming.

Genetically modified (GM) foods have been engulfed in considerable controversy, and the early optimism has been dampened. Information issues--labeling and asymmetric information--are central to the GM-food debate. Furthermore, it is important to understand the reaction in developed countries to...