The price of happy hens: a hedonic analysis of retail egg prices.

摘要

This paper analyses price differentials among conventional, cage-free, organic and omega-3 eggs using retail scanner data from 2 US regional markets (Dallas and San Francisco) and the USA as a whole. Results revealed significant premiums attributable to cage-free (57% premium on average) and organic (85% premium on average). However, significant variation existed among geographic locations; price premiums for organic over conventional eggs in Dallas were almost 2x as high as those in San Francisco. Estimates indicate that approx. 42% of the typically observed premium for cage-free eggs over conventional eggs (and 36% of the premium for organic eggs) can be attributed to egg colour rather than differences in chickens' living conditions. Despite the large implicit price premiums for cage-free and organic, data reveal that most shoppers are not willing to pay such high prices for cage-free and organic attributes.