Quasi-experiments are mostly used in economics by comparing the treatment group with the group that do not have the treatment.

Alfnes and Rickertsen have a chapter titled "Nonmarket Valuation: Experimental Methods" that offers a nice overview of this literature. It's in the the Oxford Handbook of the Economics of Food Consumption and Policy (2011). There you'll find reference to Louviere, Hensher, and Swait (2000), the standard reference for choice experiments.

Thanks you for the link, Jay! I know that literature very well, but it is pretty much oriented towards end-users, i.e. consumers. What I was interested in was whether any experimental methods have been used with other stakeholders in the value chain (e.g. traders, processors, wholesalers, retailers, exporters etc.) measuring other metrics than willingness-to-pay which are relevant for value chain analysis and upgrading, e.g. trust, governance, level of coordination, integration, WTP, bargaining power, end-market integration, etc.

I am aware of recent work by Bernard Ruffieux on value chains that implies quality as seen by processors, field specialists and consumers. It was some quality coordination game. It was presented in English last June in Lyon at the annual meeting of the Association Française d'Économie Expérimentale

Maurice, that's very interesting! I'll send an email to Bernard.

In the context of global value chains, I know the OECD has released some research on the role of SMEs. That might lend some ideas to your work, Matty. If you've come across any studies on upstream & downstream activities in agricultural value chains could you let me know. Thanks.

Vernon Smith has just published a paper on using laboratory experiments in logistics and supply chain research, where he raises the same question: Why not doing more experiments in supply chain research?

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jbl.12006/abstract

This paper also seems to be relevant:

http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev.economics.050708.143235

Thanks Matty. Much appreciated.

Nevertheless, value chain analysis is going through an identity crisis. The FAO will soon publish a handbook series on sustainable food value chain development (SFVD). There is a tremendous need for new, innovative tools for value chain research. Since value chain research starts in the end-market by estimating the value out there, experimental consumer economics methodologies such as experimental auctions are a valuable tool since they not only allow estimating willingness-to-pay, and hence value, of quality attributes; they also allow testing under which conditions (and which market segments) consumers are willing to upgrade from conventional food to higher quality food. Since much of value chain analysis is conducted with the aim of value chain upgrading, this provides a first glimpse on whether the value chain and the end-markets are ready for value chain upgrading.

Now, throughout the chain, many other aspects are crucial in value chain upgrading, such as trust, governance, coordination, institutional innovation (contracting), FDI, responsiveness to consumer demand, transaction costs, financing, etc. Experimental economics has probably much to offer and it would be great if we could develop a set of experimental tools which can help us informing about how value chains should be upgraded, what works best etc.