Skip to main content

Cornell University

Emerging Markets Program

China: Food Safety (Shanghai)

Overall Goal

The purpose of this project is to conduct willingness-to-pay survey centered around food safety and labeling in China.

Company/Business Location

Shanghai, China

Company Profile

This project entails conducting willingness-to-pay (WTP) surveys of Chinese consumers regarding various items (e.g. eggs, spinach, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, etc). Two separate teams will conduct WTP surveys in Beijing and Shanghai. The data gathered from these consumer WTP surveys can offer insights into consumer knowledge and preferences regarding food safety, quality, and labeling. Eventually, the integration of dynamic pricing models based on these WTP surveys with microbial food safety risk calculation models can offer consumers greater transparency on the safety and quality of the food available for purchase, thereby contributing to increased confidence in the food system as a whole.

This project is part of a larger research endeavor that seeks to develop a novel approach to comprehensively address food quality and safety issues from farm to table in China. See: “Food Security for an Emerging e-Commerce China.”

Proposed Team Tasks

While in Shanghai, the SMART team will aim to:

  1. Identify and arrange multiple locations across each city suitable for administering WTP surveys;
  2. Conduct WTP surveys at the selected locations across the city; and
  3. Analyze survey data and draft journal article(s) based on survey results.

Desired Skills

The skills and background that would be beneficial (but not all necessary) for this project include:

  • Good understanding of and experience with survey research and administration, especially conjoint analysis;
  • Good understanding of and experience with behavioral experiments a plus;
  • Research, analytical and writing skills (e.g. publishable article);
  • Knowledge in fields such as food science, economics/management, and policy; and
  • Mandarin language skills required.

Fieldwork Dates

Tentative dates: January 5-18, 2020.

Team Leader

Lin Fu | Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management | lf333@cornell.edu

Additional Information

Program Website: https://emergingmarkets.dyson.cornell.edu/food-security-for-an-emerging-e-commerce-china/

Skip to toolbar