International trade, product quality and food standards

Session spéciale lors du congrès de VancouverInternational audienceIn the last decades, international trade in agri-food products has been mainly affected by two important phenomena. On the one hand there has been a rapid expansion of consumer preferences towards a range of quality characteristics in food products. On the other, we have witnessed significant changes in trade policy patterns in favor of non-tariff measures Food quality and safety issues have become important topics in the agri-food markets, in particular for richer countries. This trend has been driven by a variety of factors exacerbated by several food scares that have triggered growing consumer concern about the attributes of food, the way they are produced, and increasing awareness of the relationship between diet and health. As a consequence, vertical and horizontal quality differentiation of food products has become a necessary condition to satisfy consumer demand (Grunert, 2005). This demand trend and the progressive worldwide elimination or reduction of traditional trade policies, such as tariffs, triggered the diffusion of non-tariff measures, like regulatory standards addressing safety, quality and environmental concerns (WTO, 2012). Such evolution of trade policies stimulates a growing attention in studying the trade and welfare effect of these standards (e.g. Beghin et al. 2015). However, understanding the economic effects of these policy measures is, for several reasons, difficult. This organized session includes three presentations dealing with complementary issues regarding the economics of trade and food quality. Each presentation will be followed by a short discussion. After the three presentations, Bruno Larue, a North American researcher in international trade, will introduce the discussion based on the results presented and their implications for international trade policies. Rich exchanges should then arise with the audience of agricultural economists attending the session. The three presentations will address the following issues. First, the focus will be on the emerging analytical models incorporating information asymmetry and the role of standards in firm heterogeneity trade models. Second, the impact of the policy of geographical indication labeling proposed by the European Union will be discussed. Its role on firms’ export competitiveness and behavior for an important French food product (i.e. cheese) will be analyzed. Finally, how the diffusion of most restrictive food standards affects developing country firms’ export decisions and products quality will be addressed. Trade margins and product quality: adjustments to NTM under information asymmetry. [u]Carl Gaigné[/u], Anne-Célia Disdier, Cristina Herghelegiu On the competitiveness effects of quality labels: Evidence from the French cheese industry. Sabine Duvaleix-Treguer, Charlotte Emlinger, Carl Gaigné, [u]Karine Latouche[/u] Standards, Trade Margins and Product Quality: Firm-level Evidence from Peru. Daniele Curzi, Monica Schuster , Miet Maertens, [u]Alessandro Olper [/u