Fishy labeling: Inter-regional inequality of truthful product information

Over the past few years, food fraud has become a matter of great concern. We investigate how economic factors are related to the misdeeds of food retailers. Our model predicts that mislabeling is less likely in regions where (i) there are more sellers and (ii) the average income level is higher. The empirical patterns found in the DNA test data are in line with the predictions. Our findings can inform regulators of which regions and fish species to focus on when auditing.