An Econometric and Game Theoretic Analysis of Producer and Consumer Preferences Toward Agricultural Biotechnology

It is no secret these days that there are anti-biotech activists that reject the science related to the safety and benefits of biotechnology but yet have no issues accepting the science related to climate change or other fields. In my early days, back in graduate school I hypothesized that beliefs about the safety of biotechnology were more related or driven by political constructs than knowledge or acceptance of science itself. This was crude (I wish I had the floppy with the actual paper...and a drive to read it) but my general findings were that those that believed in climate change or were supportive of stem cell research were less likely (45-50% less using the divide by 4 rule for marginal effects) to believe in the safety of biotech foods. 

Of course this work had some drawbacks, including small sample size and power. But also, after a few years on the job and working on a limited basis with structural equation modeling, there are more powerful methods I could have used looking at these effects. But I think it was an interesting preliminary finding that seems to still hold true almost a decade later.

See also:

Perceptions of GMO Foods: A Hypothetical Application of SEM 

Left vs Right Science vs Risk vs Propensity to Regulate 

Monsantophobia Explained

Reference:

Matt Bogard. "An Econometric and Game Theoretic Analysis of Producer and Consumer Preferences Toward Agricultural Biotechnology" Western Kentucky University (2005)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/matt_bogard/31/

 Abstract:

Agricultural biotechnology offers tremendous benefits to farmers and to society as it provides tools for mitigation of a number of environmental externalities related to water quality, food safety, and climate change. However, perceptions of the safety of recombinant DNA technology on the part of consumers and management decisions by producers can shape the policy environment in ways that may inhibit expanded use of biotech traits in agriculture. This presentation presents a summary of results from an econometric and game theoretic analysis of consumer perceptions and producer decisions as they relate to agricultural biotechnology.

Submitted in partial fulfillment of AGRI 597 Independent Study/Special Problems in Agriculture.