Collective investment in a common pool resource: Grower associations and food safety guidelines

Common pool resources often face overexploitation, but collective action can counteract that tendency. We investigate collective investment in reputation for produce food safety, a common pool resource because of limited branding and traceability, by U.S. commodity organizations. We use a unique dataset constructed with data from U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Drug Administration, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and industry to provide novel evidence on collective investment in common pool resources. Notably, only large shocks to reputation such as foodborne disease outbreaks resulting in hospitalization increase the likelihood of food safety guideline adoption. Adoption of food safety guidelines by government-backed organizations results in improvements in some food safety outcomes.

Automated summary

This study investigates collective investment in reputation for food safety by U.S. commodity organizations. The findings suggest that only major shocks to reputation increase the likelihood of adopting food safety guidelines. Adoption of these guidelines by government-backed organizations leads to improvements in certain food safety outcomes.