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In-transit cold treatment: a case of institutional path dependence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 February 2020

Pasquale Lubello Open the ORCID record for Pasquale Lubello [Opens in a new window]  and
Jean-Marie Codron
Pasquale Lubello*
Affiliation:
UMR MOISA, Montpellier Supagro, INRA – CIRAD, CIHEAM – IAMM, Université de Montpellier, Montpellier, France
Jean-Marie Codron
Affiliation:
UMR MOISA, Montpellier Supagro, INRA – CIRAD, CIHEAM – IAMM, Université de Montpellier, Montpellier, France
*
*Corresponding author. Email: lubello@supagro.fr
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Abstract

In-transit cold treatment consists of exposing food commodities – generally fresh agricultural products – to temperatures approaching 0 °C for a variable number of days during shipping in purpose-equipped containers in order to manage the risks of quarantine contamination. In this paper, we show that in-transit cold treatment is frequently required in the international trade of apples potentially affected by Mediterranean fruit fly (Ceratitis Capitata), despite the existence of potentially less costly and equally effective alternative means of applying the same treatment, in particular ‘cold storage’. We then try to understand why these alternative methods do not emerge spontaneously or become more widespread. We suggest that technical aspects and their respective costs are not always the most important factors. Transaction costs may also come into play. In accordance with ‘institutional path dependence’ literature, we suggest that the negotiation costs a country has to bear in order to encourage its trading partners to adopt an alternative treatment are high enough for it to be preferable to continue using the current solution, despite its higher adoption cost.

Keywords

Applesinternational tradein-transit cold treatmentinstitutionspath dependence
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Institutional Economics , Volume 16 , Issue 4 , August 2020 , pp. 463 - 479
Copyright
Copyright © Millennium Economics Ltd 2020

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