Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Quarterly Journal of International Agriculture

Quarterly Journal of International Agriculture No. 2/11


Puerto Rican Consumers’ Attitude towards Willingness to Pay a Premium for Ethnic Produce: An Econometric Analysis

Ramu Govindasamy and Venkata S. Puduri
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ, USA


Abstract

The primary objective of this study is to predict Puerto Rican consumer’s willingness to pay a premium for ethnic produce. Particularly, this paper analyzes the effects of Puerto Rican consumers’ socio-economic characteristics and their expressed value judgments on their willingness to pay a premium for ethnic produce using a logit analysis. A telephone survey was conducted by a private marketing company for the Puerto Rican ethnic group in 16 states of east-coast United States from Florida to Maine and Washington, D.C., and based on random sampling, 271 respondents were interviewed in 2006. Consumers who participated in the survey were asked whether they were willing to pay a premium price for Puerto Rican ethnic produce or not, and based on this response, a logit model was developed to predict their willingness to pay a premium for ethnic produce.

Keywords: willingness to pay a premium, Puerto Rican ethnic consumer, fruits and vegetables, produce, logit model

JEL: Q13

Vol. 50 (2011), No. 2: 121-131