Negative Spillover Effect on Demand for US Pork and Vegetables Caused by BSE Outbreak

The authors wish to acknowledge financial support from the Urakami Foundation After the BSE outbreak in December 2003 in the United States, Japanese consumers refrained from buying US beef and other agricultural products produced in the US. We use a probit model to analyze how the BSE outbreak has affected demand for products other than beef and what household characteristics have an impact on decisions to purchase US agricultural products. We show that the BSE outbreak has had a significant impact on the purchasing decisions of Japanese consumers. Presence of children in the household and interest in country-of-origin information also significantly affected consumer attitudes and their purchases of US agricultural products