How much less? Estimating price discounts for suboptimal food with environmental and social credence attributes

Figures & data

Table 1. Apple attribute levels used in the DCE.

Attribute	Attribute Levels
Appearance	Ideal	Moderate injury	Significant injury	Moderate deformity	Significant deformity
Social responsibility	No claim	Care for workers	Contribute to local community		Support growers
GHG reduction	No claim	15% Less GHG	30% Less GHG
Genetic engineering	No claim	GE-free
Organic production	No claim	Organic
Price	$1.50/lb	$3/lb	$4.50/lb

Table 2. Socio-demographics of survey respondents (n = 919).

Gender	Male	41%
Age	20–29	9%
	30–39	20%
	40–49	18%
	50–59	20%
	60–69	22%
	>70	9%
Location	Urban	39%
	Sub-urban	51%
	Rural	10%
Household composition	Single, no children	32%
	Single with children	7%
	Couple, no children	23%
	Couple with children	35%
Education	High school	17%
	Tertiary qualification other than degree	16%
	University degree	41%
	Post-graduate degree	24%
Household income	≤$40,000	16%
	$40,001–$80,000	29%
	$80,001–$120,000	24%
	$120,001–$160,000	14%
	≥$160,001 ormore	18%
Purchase behaviours and attitudes	Have previously purchase ‘ugly’ apples	26%
	Consume apples daily	37%
	Average price paid/lb	$2.8/lb
	Reduced environmental impact of production is important	64%
	There are significant risks with use of GE in production are	58%
	Perfect appearance is important	50%

Figure 1. Example choice set.

Table 3. Mixed Logit model in WTP-space of apple choices.

Apple Attributes	Parameter Mean	SD
Moderate injury	−1.21***(0.06)	4.53***(0.18)
Significant injury	−2.30***(0.09)	7.61***(0.28)
Moderate deformity	−1.77***(0.10)	6.36***(0.28)
Significant deformity	−3.40***(0.14)	9.23***(0.35)
15% Reduction in GHG	0.34***(0.06)	0.95***(0.20)
30% Reduction in GHG	0.42***(0.06)	1.77***(0.20)
Organic production	1.13***(0.07)	3.53***(0.19)
Care for workers	0.91***(0.14)	4.94***(0.36)
Contribute to communities	0.47***(0.07)	1.60***(0.25)
Support growers	0.63***(0.07)	1.58***(0.21)
GE-free	0.44***(0.06)	1.88***(0.16)
Opt-out choice	−5.75***(0.12)
Number observations	9,190
Number of respondents	919
Log-likelihood	−8,143
McFadden pseudo-R^2	0.357
AIC/N	1.80

***, ** and * denote statistical significance at 1%, 5% and 10% level, respectively. SEs in brackets.

Table 4. Latent Class Model of consumers apple choices.

Apple Attributes	Class 1	Class 2	Class 3	Class 4
Moderate injury	−0.78***(0.21)	0.18(0.14)	−0.89**(0.38)	−1.65***(0.18)
Significant injury	−1.69***(0.24)	0.24(0.17)	−1.36***(0.46)	−2.64***(0.28)
Moderate deformity	−0.11(0.22)	0.08(0.15)	−1.99***(0.47)	−1.25***(0.28)
Significant deformity	−2.08***(0.33)	−0.01(0.16)	−2.43***(0.55)	−3.13***(0.35)
15% Reduction in GHG	0.17(0.15)	0.26**(0.12)	0.64***(0.20)	0.20*(0.20)
30% Reduction in GHG	−0.26*(0.15)	0.30***(0.07)	0.36**(0.16)	0.01(0.20)
Organic production	0.28(0.18)	0.61***(0.11)	1.14***(0.18)	0.57***(0.19)
Care for workers	−0.35(0.27)	0.52***(0.16)	1.08***(0.27)	0.10(0.36)
Contribute to communities	−0.42(0.36)	0.45***(0.13)	1.14***(0.27)	0.09(0.25)
Support growers	−0.05(0.15)	0.52***(0.11)	0.48***(0.19)	0.05(0.21)
GE-free	0.05(0.14)	0.66***(0.13)	0.55**(0.22)	0.06(0.16)
Price $/lb	−1.15***(0.08)	−0.23***(0.09)	−2.16***(0.19)	−0.18***(0.06)
Opt-out choice	−2.15***(0.26)	−2.28***(0.30)	−6.47***(0.79)	−3.67***(0.21)
Class membership
Constant	1.57**(0.57)	3.95***(0.88)	3.92***(0.79)
Appearance is important	−0.24***(0.06)	−0.31***(0.06)	−0.39***(0.05)
Environmental impact important	−0.52***(0.27)	0.36 (0.26)	0.37(0.24)
Significant risks with use of GE	0.08 (0.32)	1.13***(0.38)	0.62**(0.29)
Age	0.46***(0.01)	−0.01*(0.01)	0.03***(0.01)
Female	−0.03 (0.28)	0.04*(0.03)	0.31(0.22)
Education	0.13 (0.16)	0.11**(0.07)	−0.25*(0.15)
Average class probability	0.17	0.27	0.28	0.28
Log-likelihood	−8,216
McFadden pseudo-R^2	0.344
AIC/N	1.85

***, ** and * denote statistical significance at 1%, 5% and 10% level, respectively. SEs in brackets.

Table 5. Consumer willingness-to-pay estimates from the Latent Class Model of consumers apple choices.

Attribute	Class 1	Class 2	Class 3	Class 4
Moderate injury	-$0.68*** (−1.02:-0.34)		-$0.41*** (−1.02:-0.34)	-$9.06*** (−13.5:-4.61)
Significant injury	-$1.47*** (−1.87:-1.07)		-$0.62*** (−1.02:-0.34)	-$14.49*** (−21.1:-7.92)
Moderate deformity			-$0.92*** (−1.02:-0.34)	-$6.85*** (−9.87:-3.83)
Significant deformity	-$1.81*** (−2.35:-1.27)		-$1.12*** (−1.47:-0.78)	-$17.17*** (−24.2:-10.1)
15% Reduction in GHG		$1.11*** (0.33:1.88)	$0.29*** (0.12:0.46)	$1.12** (0.02:2.22)
30% Reduction in GHG		$1.31*** (0.45:2.17)	$0.16*** (0.02:0.31)
Organic production		$2.63*** (0.97:4.30)	$0.52*** (0.33:0.72)	$3.13*** (1.15:5.11)
Care for workers		$2.23*** (1.08:3.38)	$0.50*** (0.26:0.73)
Contribute to communities		$1.93*** (0.89:2.98)	$0.53*** (0.28:0.77)
Support growers		$2.24*** (1.11:3.37)	$0.22*** (0.04:0.40)
GE-free		$2.87*** (1.39:4.35)	$0.25*** (0.02:0.48)

***, ** and * denotes statistical significance at 1%, 5% and 10% level, respectively.

Mean WTP/lb US2021. 95% Confidence intervals in brackets.