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Abstract
The Australian Mushroom Growers Association (AMGA) has recently developed a
revised marketing strategy to promote mushrooms using messages based on scientific
findings about the nutrition and health consequences of regularly incorporating mushrooms
into meals. This article evaluates impacts based on a test-market experiment in
Tasmania. We use a difference-in-differences econometric methodology to quantify
the programme-induced shifts in demand, and we use the resulting estimates in a supply
and demand modelling framework to quantify the effects of promotion-induced
demand shifts on prices, quantities, and measures of economic well-being. We estimate
a conservative benefit–cost ratio for Tasmanian producers of 7.6:1 if they were to bear
the entire cost and 11.4:1 if the programme were financed by a levy on production (or
spawn). The aggregate benefit–cost ratio, including benefits to consumers is also
11.4:1.
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