主题：媒体与贸易：来自全球乳制品进口的证据

主讲人：王争（英国De Montfort University经济学副教授）

讲座时间：2017年4月21日下午1点30分

讲座地点：36365线路检测中心楼219室

组织发起：36365线路检测中心经济学实验班工作小组

主办单位：36365线路检测中心

协办单位：科研处

主题简介：

In the wake of rapid technological development, media information plays an increasingly important role in international trade. As opposed to the existing trade literature's focus on the supply side, this paper looks explicit into the less-explored demand side by investigating how global consumers respond to changes in media information on product quality. Using a discrete choice model, we structurally estimate the effect of the 2008 milk contamination scandal in China on global consumers' quality perception of Chinese dairy products. We find a significant impact of the scandal on imported milk from China in countries where consumers have a higher exposure to media information on the scandal. Overall, the awareness of the scandal causes a consumer welfare loss, which is only partly offset by utility gain from switching to safer yet more expensive alternatives. In addition, the above impact is relatively short-lived, and we do not find similarly strong evidence for non-milk diary-related products. Our findings highlight the necessity of accounting for the impact of media and market information on consumers in the development of a fuller, structural understanding of the role of information in trade.

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