Can Informed Buyers Improve Goods Quality? Experimental Evidence from Crop Seeds
This paper studies whether adding informed buyers to a market can improve the quality of goods supplied by sellers
Abstract
We study whether adding informed buyers to a market can improve the quality of goods supplied by sellers, in an environment where goods quality is difficult to observe. To do so, we implement a market-level intervention, randomizing rural markets in Kenya into a community-wide information campaign. Small-scale maize (corn) farmers in treated market areas were trained to identify hybrid maize seeds that are quality-verfiied under national seed regulations. In this setting there are widespread concerns about deceptive counterfeits and other uncertified seeds of lower quality. We find that observable markers predict seed quality. Treatment increased knowledge of these markers, affected seed purchase decisions, and increased maize production.
This research is part of the Gender, Growth and Labour Markets in Low Income Countries programme
Citation
Hsu, E., Wambugu, A. W. (2023). “Can Informed Buyers Improve Goods Quality? Experimental Evidence from Crop Seeds”. G2LM LIC Working Paper No. 74
Links
Can Informed Buyers Improve Goods Quality? Experimental Evidence from Crop Seeds