New Evidence on Information Disclosure through Restaurant Hygiene Grading: Reply

Ho, Ashwood, and Handan-Nader (forthcoming) replicates table VI of fin and Leslie (2003) but questions its research design. Robustness checks support our original conclusion-foodborne hospitalizations, as defined in JL, declined in Los Angeles County (LA) relative to the rest of California (CA) after LA adopted restaurant hygiene grade cards in 1998. More precisely, the decline in LA is pronounced against central and Northern CA, but insignificant when compared with the rest of Southern CA. One possible explanation is that the LA regulation has generated spillovers in Southern CA.