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Abstract
The purpose of this paper is, by comparing products with a mountain provenance
with those from non-mountain areas, to explore whether the market puts a premium
on the „mountain attribute‟. First, we present a theoretical framework on attributes
and cues that helps answering the question what is “mountain” representing in a
products or in other term, is it an attribute or a cue. Second, based on a shelves
survey collected as part of the EuroMARC, we analyse for several products (apples,
sausages, water and cheese) and countries (Austria, France, Norway, Scotland and
Slovenia) using a hedonic price regression approach whether a premium is paid for
mountain food products in comparison with identified similar non-mountain food
products. The results indicate that the answer is mixed and depends on the product
and country. Thus, premia was found only in the case of cheese and for Austria,
Norway and Slovenia.