• AEA
  • About the AEA
  • Committees
  • Honors & Awards
  • For Graduate Students
  • For Undergrad Students
  • News & Notes
  • Officers
  • General Information
  • Minutes
  • UA Questionnaire
  • Continuing Education
  • Directory of Members
  • Call for Papers
  • Media
• Journals
  • AEJ: Applied Economics
  • AEJ: Economic Policy
  • AEJ: Macroeconomics
  • AEJ: Microeconomics
  • American Economic Review
  • Journal of Economic Literature
  • Journal of Economic Perspectives
  • eTOCs
  • Virtual Field Journals
  • Institutional Subscriptions
  • AEA Journals on JSTOR
  • Ads in Journals
  • Back Issues Order Forms
  • Copyright & Permissions
• Annual Meeting
  • Submissions
  • Registration/Housing
  • Preliminary Program
  • ASSA 2013 App
  • Annual Meeting Papers
  • Annual Meeting Webcasts
  • Disclosure Code Information
  • Exhibitors
  • Exhibitors & Advertisers Forms
  • Special Event Form
  • Continuing Education
  • Econ-Harmony
  • Archive of Past Programs
• EconLit
  • EconLit Access
  • EconLit Deskop Link
  • EconLit for Members
  • JEL Codes Guide
  • JEL Classifications
  • Journal List
  • Contacts/Corrections
  • Upcoming Exhibits
  • Document Types
  • Search Hints
• Jobs
  • JOE Listings
  • Submit a JOE Listing
  • Job Market Signaling
  • Job Market Scramble
  • Available Retired Faculty
• Resources
  • Resources For Economists
  • RFE Abridged Contents
  • RFE Search
  • RFE Conferences
  • Econ Search Engine
• Members
  • Member Login
  • Become a Member
  • Directory of Members
  • EconLit for Members
  • AEA Journals on JSTOR
  • Econ-Harmony
  • Annual Meeting Webcasts
  • Browse JEL Indexes
  • Virtual Field Journals
  • Institutional Subscriptions

View Settings

This setting lets you change the way you view articles. You can choose to have articles open in a dialog window, a new tab, or directly in the same window.

Open in Dialog
Open in New Tab
Open in same window

American Economic Journal: Microeconomics: Vol. 1 No. 1 (February 2009)

AEJ: Micro Volume. 1, Issue 1 | Previous Article

Expand

Quick Tools:

Print Article Summary Email Link to this Article

To Email:

From Email:

Message:

Email Link to Article Change Captcha Export Citation

BibTeX EndNote Refer/BibIX RIS Tab-Delimited Export Sign up for Email Alerts Follow us on Twitter Subscription Information
(Institutional Administrator Access)

Explore:

AEJ: Micro - All Issues

AEJ: Micro Forthcoming Articles

Reputational Incentives for Restaurant Hygiene

Article Citation

Jin, Ginger Zhe, and Phillip Leslie. 2009. "Reputational Incentives for Restaurant Hygiene." American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, 1(1): 237-67.

DOI: 10.1257/mic.1.1.237

Abstract

How can consumers be assured that firms will endeavor to provide good quality when quality is unobservable prior to purchase? We test the hypothesis that reputational incentives are effective at causing restaurants to maintain good hygiene quality. We find that chain affiliation provides reputational incentives and franchised units tend to free-ride on chain reputation. We also show that regional variation in the degree of repeat customers affects the strength of reputational incentives for good hygiene at both chain and nonchain restaurants. Despite these incentives, a policy intervention in the form of posted hygiene grade cards causes significant improvements in restaurant hygiene. (JEL I18, I19, L14, L83).

Article Full-Text Access

Full-text Article

Additional Materials

Download Data Set (3.56 MB)

Authors

Jin, Ginger Zhe (U MD)
Leslie, Phillip (Stanford U)

JEL Classifications

I18: Health: Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
I19: Health: Other
L14: Transactional Relationships; Contracts and Reputation; Networks
L83: Sports; Gambling; Recreation; Tourism

Comments

View Comments on This Article (0) | Login to post a comment