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1、JournalofEconomicBehavior&Organization80(2011)628–640ContentslistsavailableatScienceDirectJournalofEconomicBehavior&Organizationjournalhomepage:www.elsevier.com/locate/jeboConsumerinformationinamarketforexpertservicesKylea,∗bHyndman,SaltukOzerturkaDepartmentofEconomics,SouthernMethodistUniversity
2、,3300DyerStreet,Suite301R,Dallas,TX,UnitedStatesbDepartmentofEconomics,SouthernMethodistUniversity,3300DyerStreet,Suite301X,Dallas,TX,UnitedStatesarticleinfoabstractArticlehistory:WepresentamodelofcredencegoodsinwhichtheconsumersareheterogenousintermsofReceived1June2010thevaluationtheyplaceforget
3、tingaseriousproblemfixed.Weintroduceconsumerinfor-Receivedinrevisedform14May2011mationintothisframeworkbyassumingthat,priortovisitinganexpert,someconsumersAccepted10June2011receiveaninformationsignalaboutwhethertheyhaveaseriousoraminorproblem.WeAvailableonline29June2011showthatwhenthefractionofcon
4、sumerswithlowwillingnesstopayissufficientlyhigh,theexpertdoesnotcheatanylowvaluationconsumerregardlessoftheirinformationsta-JELclassification:tus,C70butcheatsthehighvaluationconsumers:thosehigh-valuationconsumerswithbadD82signalsarethemostfrequentvictimsofcheating,whereasthosewithgoodsignalsarethel
5、eastlikelyvictims.WhenthefractionofconsumerswithlowwillingnesstopayisbelowaKeywords:certainthreshold,however,theuniqueequilibriuminvolvesnocheating.Credencegoods©2011ElsevierB.V.Allrightsreserved.ExpertcheatingConsumerinformation1.IntroductionOneofthemostfrequentconsumercomplaintsinvolveso-called
6、credencegoods.Theseareproductsandservicespurchasedfrominformed‘experts’suchasautomechanics,homeimprovementcontractors,applianceservice-persons,physiciansandlawyers.Animportantfeatureoftheseservicesisthattheprovideroftheservicealsoassumestheroleofanexpertanddetermineshowmuchorwhattypeofservicethec
7、onsumerneeds.Evenwhenthesuccessoftheserviceisobservabletotheconsumerexpost,consumerstypicallycanneverdeterminethetypeoftheservicetheyneededinthefirstplace.Incertaininstances,theconsumersmayneverknowwhattypeofservicewasa