Recently, continuing outbreaks of avian influenza in China have not only caused great loss to the agricultural sector but also brought fear and distrust to consumers, seriously undermining consumer confidence in chicken products. We investigated consumers’ purchase intentions during avian influenza outbreaks by examining a regionally representative sample of 330 consumers in Guangzhou. With respect to 7 kinds of attributes, the ordered logit analysis indicated that possible health threat and uncertainty of the origin of poultry products may cause concern among consumers and cause them to avoid purchasing chicken products. Media reports have a great influence on consumers’ intentions to purchase chicken products during avian influenza outbreaks. Overall, this study suggests establishing an effective mechanism of public knowledge (of chicken products’ safety and quality) enhancement, in order to curb misleading media reports during avian influenza outbreaks.

As a core industry of the national economy, there is no doubt that the agricultural sector has to adapt to the new economic development. In the literature, many researchers have agreed that agricultural export is an important factor affecting economic growth. This paper explores the contribution of chicken products’ export to economic growth and the causal relationship between them. Based on the data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and World Bank between 1980 and 2016, this paper describes and compares the characteristics of chicken products’ export trade of China, the United States, and Brazil. By applying the co-integration analysis, we find that there is no significant long-term equilibrium relationship between chicken products’ export and economic growth rate in China, the United States, or Brazil. However, the growth rate of chicken products’ export significantly promotes the economic growth rate for the United States. Besides, for both China and the United States, the direct pull degree (an estimator quantifying the degree of agricultural products’ exports in stimulating economic growth) of chicken products’ export is relatively small and less volatile. Yet, the direct pull degree of China is 14 times that of the United States, and the contribution to the economic growth rate of the United States is 8 times that of China. Both the direct pull degree and economic growth contribution of chicken products’ export of Brazil fluctuates more often, and its direct pull degree is 0.25 times that of China, and the economic contributions to the growth rate is 1.65 times that of China.