Does Drinking GI Protected Oolong Tea Help The Local Farmers?

What are the economic effects of Geographical Indications (GIs) on developing country producers? Deepthi Elizabeth Kolady (Research collaborator with International Food Policy Research Institute; visiting fellow at Cornell University), William Henri Lesser (Professor at the Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, Cornell University) and Chunhui Ye (Associate Researcher at the China Academy for Rural Development, School of Management, Zhejiang University) asked themselves this important question and compared Darjeeling and Oolong Teas by doing empirical research to price elasticities in the products.
Law + 
Empirical Research 
The trio comes to the conclusion that GIs can benefit consumers and/or producers of food products. The distribution of benefits is dependent on the relative elasticities with the majority of benefits accruing to the least elastic element.
Read their report in the WIPO Journal (volume 2, number 2), here (p 157-172 = p 17-32 pdf).
 = Science

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