Synopsis: Can agricultural traders be trusted? Evidence from urban coffee markets in Ethiopia
Traditional food marketing systems in developing countries are often not trusted. In consequence, policy makers frequently try to regulate them and modern market arrangements increasingly are emerging that seek to address some of their presumed deficiencies. However, it is unclear how trustworthy th...
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Brief |
| Language: | Inglés |
| Published: |
International Food Policy Research Institute
2015
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/150263 |
| _version_ | 1855533324707037184 |
|---|---|
| author | Assefa, Thomas Minten, Bart |
| author_browse | Assefa, Thomas Minten, Bart |
| author_facet | Assefa, Thomas Minten, Bart |
| author_sort | Assefa, Thomas |
| collection | Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace) |
| description | Traditional food marketing systems in developing countries are often not trusted. In consequence, policy makers frequently try to regulate them and modern market arrangements increasingly are emerging that seek to address some of their presumed deficiencies. However, it is unclear how trustworthy these markets actually are, and if and to what extent regulation and modernization affects market governance. In this paper we look at the case of coffee in urban settings in Ethiopia to test trustworthiness along three dimensions of trade transactions – weight, quality, and the presence of illegal trade. We find that traders are relatively trustworthy on observable quality characteristics and weights. However, there is significant illegal trade (prohibited trade of export quality coffee) and a consistent pattern of over-representation of not easily observable quality characteristics. We find that modern marketing outlets or formats, including branded and packaged products, deliver higher quality at a higher price, but are no more trustworthy than traditional marketing arrangements in terms of these dimensions of trade transactions. |
| format | Brief |
| id | CGSpace150263 |
| institution | CGIAR Consortium |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| publishDateRange | 2015 |
| publishDateSort | 2015 |
| publisher | International Food Policy Research Institute |
| publisherStr | International Food Policy Research Institute |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | CGSpace1502632025-12-08T10:29:22Z Synopsis: Can agricultural traders be trusted? Evidence from urban coffee markets in Ethiopia Assefa, Thomas Minten, Bart value chains retail marketing exports high-value agricultural products commodities urban areas sustainability quality trade coffee Traditional food marketing systems in developing countries are often not trusted. In consequence, policy makers frequently try to regulate them and modern market arrangements increasingly are emerging that seek to address some of their presumed deficiencies. However, it is unclear how trustworthy these markets actually are, and if and to what extent regulation and modernization affects market governance. In this paper we look at the case of coffee in urban settings in Ethiopia to test trustworthiness along three dimensions of trade transactions – weight, quality, and the presence of illegal trade. We find that traders are relatively trustworthy on observable quality characteristics and weights. However, there is significant illegal trade (prohibited trade of export quality coffee) and a consistent pattern of over-representation of not easily observable quality characteristics. We find that modern marketing outlets or formats, including branded and packaged products, deliver higher quality at a higher price, but are no more trustworthy than traditional marketing arrangements in terms of these dimensions of trade transactions. 2015-02-12 2024-08-01T02:51:12Z 2024-08-01T02:51:12Z Brief https://hdl.handle.net/10568/150263 en https://hdl.handle.net/10568/151149 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2016.08.018 Open Access application/pdf International Food Policy Research Institute Ethiopian Development Research Institute Assefa, Thomas Woldu; Minten, Bart. 2015. Synopsis: Can agricultural traders be trusted? Evidence from urban coffee markets in Ethiopia. ESSP II Research Note 36. Washington, DC and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: International Food Policy Research Institute and Ethiopian Development Research Institute (EDRI). https://hdl.handle.net/10568/150263 |
| spellingShingle | value chains retail marketing exports high-value agricultural products commodities urban areas sustainability quality trade coffee Assefa, Thomas Minten, Bart Synopsis: Can agricultural traders be trusted? Evidence from urban coffee markets in Ethiopia |
| title | Synopsis: Can agricultural traders be trusted? Evidence from urban coffee markets in Ethiopia |
| title_full | Synopsis: Can agricultural traders be trusted? Evidence from urban coffee markets in Ethiopia |
| title_fullStr | Synopsis: Can agricultural traders be trusted? Evidence from urban coffee markets in Ethiopia |
| title_full_unstemmed | Synopsis: Can agricultural traders be trusted? Evidence from urban coffee markets in Ethiopia |
| title_short | Synopsis: Can agricultural traders be trusted? Evidence from urban coffee markets in Ethiopia |
| title_sort | synopsis can agricultural traders be trusted evidence from urban coffee markets in ethiopia |
| topic | value chains retail marketing exports high-value agricultural products commodities urban areas sustainability quality trade coffee |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/150263 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT assefathomas synopsiscanagriculturaltradersbetrustedevidencefromurbancoffeemarketsinethiopia AT mintenbart synopsiscanagriculturaltradersbetrustedevidencefromurbancoffeemarketsinethiopia |