Multitasking, Complementarities, and Information Disclosure: Evidence from Food Hygiene Ratings in the U.K.

Dakshina G. De Silva (Lancaster University) , David Rietzke (Lancaster University), Anita R. Schiller (Lancaster University), Hisayuki Yoshimoto (University of Glasgow ), Multitasking, Complementarities, and Information Disclosure: Evidence from Food Hygiene Ratings in the U.K., (2023):

We analyze the role of cost complementarities in driving the overall impact of a recent hygiene-rating disclosure policy in the U.K. We develop a simple theoretical multitasking model, which serves as a platform for our empirical analysis. We conduct a counterfactual analysis, which reveals the extent to which complementarities drive overall hygiene ratings. Further, we conduct a policy experiment, which sheds light on the optimal design of hygiene-rating information disclosure policies. We also show the differential impact of the policy on different types of establishments.