Collective Investment in a Common Pool Resource: Grower Associations and Food Safety Guidelines

Abstract

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 industry-based and government-sponsored U.S. commodity organizations. Using a unique dataset that combines USDA, FDA, CDC, and industry data, we find that severe food recalls and foodborne disease outbreaks induce only industry-based entities more likely to adopt food safety guidelines; but adoption only improves food safety outcomes for government-sponsored entities, consistent with greater enforceability. More generally, we provide novel evidence on collective investment in common pool resources.