Is This Salad Safe? Voluntary versus Mandatory Disclosure of Product Risk Characteristics

53 Pages Posted: 13 Sep 2014 Last revised: 6 Aug 2015

See all articles by Maria Vyshnya Aslam

Maria Vyshnya Aslam

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Emory University - Oxford College

Date Written: May 5, 2015

Abstract

This paper focuses on risk information campaigns familiarizing consumers with hazardous product attributes and compares policies advocating voluntary and mandatory displays of warning messages. The food allergen labeling campaign provides an opportunity to focus on the availability and visibility of a warning and to evaluate the immediate effect of different disclosure rules. Using a multivariate two-step framework, I compare food allergies to a set of control diseases. I find that voluntary allergen labeling boosts the number of outpatient allergy visits, while mandatory labeling has the opposite effect. This result demonstrates that the disclosure of product risk characteristics might adversely affect consumers' health if the disclosure policy is not chosen carefully.

Keywords: information disclosure, product quality, warning label, asymmetric information

JEL Classification: I18, D82, L15, L51

Suggested Citation

Aslam, Maria Vyshnya and Aslam, Maria Vyshnya, Is This Salad Safe? Voluntary versus Mandatory Disclosure of Product Risk Characteristics (May 5, 2015). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2495134 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2495134

Maria Vyshnya Aslam (Contact Author)

Emory University - Oxford College

810 Whatcoat Street
Oxford, GA 30054
United States

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( email )

1600 Clifton Rd. MS E-07
Atlanta, GA 30329-4027
United States
404-639-5396 (Phone)

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