TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Brown, Caitlin
AU  - Tommasi, Denni
        TI  - Quality Upgrading in the Street Food Market: Is Better Equipment and Training Sufficient?
        PY  - 2025/Dec/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 18328
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/publications/dp18328
        AB  - We study quality upgrading in informal markets through two experiments with street-food vendors and consumers in India. First, we define quality in terms of food safety and develop a context-specific measurement framework. Second, we show that consumers are willing to pay substantial premiums for cleanliness. Third, we implement a vendor-level intervention that lowers upgrading costs and enhances the ability to signal quality through sanitation-related equipment. The intervention improves food-safety practices and profits, but effects are modest and fade over time. Fixed pricing norms and local environmental constraints appear central, consistent with a moral hazard model where cleanliness is not profitable.
        KW  - hygiene practices
KW  - consumer preferences
KW  - randomized experiment
KW  - food safety
KW  - informal markets
KW  - street food
KW  - quality upgrading
KW  - moral hazard
KW  - subsidy effectiveness
KW  - signaling
KW  - developing countries
        ER  -