25 pages, We examine consumer willingness to pay (WTP) for foods packaged using active packaging which can be used to improve quality, shelf life, or safety of a range of products, potentially reducing the use of food additives (preservatives) and food waste. We administer an experimental survey of US food consumers (n = 2325) with five treatments. The surveys include contingent valuation exercises to assess consumer WTP for six products in active packaging relative to conventional packaging. We find that consumer acceptance of this technology is dependent on the product packaged and related directly to the specific relative benefit. In addition, consumer WTP is impacted by the framing of the technology in relation to other available technologies, information about the developer of the technology, and the degree of specificity of information regarding benefits. Notably, impacts of framing and use cases are primarily apparent among those who are resistant to the technology. A cluster analysis finds that those more likely to resist the technology include households that are lower income, less educated, and more likely to be white [EconLit citations: Q18, M31, D12, D83].
17 pages, US farmers market managers must be strategic in deciding which vendors sell at their markets. They would benefit from understanding how market characteristics impact vendor sales, although the few studies that have explored this topic have found inconclusive results. We use a unique panel database of sales at 13 farmers markets to estimate how vendors' sales are influenced by the characteristics of their farmers market. We find that average sales at weekend farmers markets becomes increasingly large as farmers markets increase in size. At weekday markets, average sales increase as small markets add vendors but eventually decline as markets become larger. These results could occur if weekend markets attract shoppers from increasingly greater distances as they become larger, while average sales eventually decline as weekday markets increase in size due to vendor competition. Produce vendors experience higher average sales at weekend markets than weekday markets and experience a relatively small increase in sales as market size increases. Vendors of hot prepared foods experience higher sales at weekday markets [EconLit Citations: Q10, Q12, Q13].