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The difference between quality grades and quality labels is that the latter are awarded on the basis of production processes, whilst the former are conferred on the strength of the actual production results. In the course of a de-ideologisation of society, it might be assumed that the price differences between quality grades would grow larger and larger, while those between quality labels would tend to shrink. The purpose of this paper is to develop and test this hypothesis.

Regressions for the calf market on the one hand and for 4,180 cattle-market data sets on the other are run with Stata.

The results largely confirm the rising importance of grades between 2000 and 2014. In the period under consideration, a price spread occurs between the individual grades of the Swiss grading system, whilst the surcharge for organic products shrinks. No price discrimination is identified a priori for conventional labels.

The focus of both chain management and policy makers should be put on effective grading systems rather than on labelling production methods.

This is the first econometrical comparison of the price effect of both grades and labels.

The purpose of this paper is to test the hypothesis that for rural regions of Switzerland, jobs and enterprises do not have a positive effect on the quality of regional development in rural areas.

Population development is used as an indicator for the quality of regional development. Economic, infrastructural, demographic and topographic variables for Swiss rural districts are summarized by factor analysis. The birth and migration balances of these districts between 1990 and 2000 are explained by two regressions.

Remoteness influences both the birth and the migration balance negatively. Jobs and enterprises in the districts, split by sector, definitely do not spur population development.

Research on regional development should not overestimate the importance of a flourishing economy.

In regional development projects, infrastructural factors are of central importance.

The influence of economic factors in regional development is explicitly compared with non‐economic factors.