Consumer demand for a ban on antibiotic drug use in pork production

Both bodies of the U.S. Congress have recently considered legislation to restrict use of antibiotics in livestock feed. Although several studies have addressed the costs of such restrictions, little is known about consumer demand. This study estimates consumers ’ willingness to pay for pork produced with-out subtherapeutic antibiotics and consumers ’ willingness to contribute to a reduction in antibiotic resistance by collecting data in a grocery store environment with mechanisms that involve the ex-change of real food and real money. Results indicate that the welfare effects of a ban depend heavily on assumptions about consumers ’ current knowledge about antibiotic use in pork production and the extent to which consumers are currently able to purchase antibiotic-free pork. Key words: consumer research, field experiment, policy evaluation, valuation. Livestock feed and water are routinely supple-mented with antimicrobial drugs. In the 1940s, animal scientists demonstrated that higher growth and feed conversion rates could be achieved by adding small amounts of antibi-otics to feed and water and that the addi