AgEcon Search

AgEcon Search >
       University of Minnesota >
          Economic Development Center >
             Bulletins >

Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://purl.umn.edu/7456

Title: Economics of Food and Safety: Risk, Information, and the Demand and Supply of Health
Authors: Falconi, Cesar
Roe, Terry L.
Keywords: health
expected utility
government intervention.
Issue Date: 1990
Series/Report no.: Bulletin 90-1
Abstract: A model of expected utility maximization and a stochastic health production function are used to show how consumer's beliefs, the certainty of beliefs, and the presence of information affects demand for goods as they are driven by the demand for health. Then, it is shown that competitive markets fail to account for the health implications of substances in the production of a commodity that affects health, nor are incentives provided to inform consumers of substance concentrations and its implications to health. This result is shown to not necessarily follow in concentrated industries. Finally, conditions are derived whereby a benevolent government, in the absence of rent seeking, chooses optimal levels of information and taxes to attain Pareto optimal outcomes.
URI: http://purl.umn.edu/7456
Institution/Association: University of Minnesota>Economic Development Center>Bulletins
Total Pages: 21
Language: English
Collections:Bulletins

Files in This Item:

File SizeFormat
edc90-01.pdf1014KbPDFView/Open
Recommend this item

All items in AgEcon Search are protected by copyright.

 

 

Brought to you by the University of Minnesota Department of Applied Economics and the University of Minnesota Libraries with cooperation from the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.

All papers are in Acrobat (.pdf) format. Get Adobe Reader

Contact Us

Powered by: