Information, Switching Costs, and Consumer Choice: Evidence from Two Randomized Field Experiments in Swedish Primary Health Care

Anders Anell, Jens Dietrichson, Lina Maria Ellegård and Gustav Kjellsson

No 2017:7, Working Papers from Lund University, Department of Economics

Abstract: Consumer choice of services that are financed by a third party may improve the matching of consumers and providers, and spur competition over quality dimensions relevant to consumers. However, in markets characterized by information frictions and switching costs, the gains from choice may fail to materialize. We use two large-scale randomized field experiments in primary health care to examine if leaflets with comparative information and pre-paid choice forms sent to consumers by postal mail affect choices. The results demonstrate that there are demand side frictions in the primary care market and indicate how these frictions can be mitigated.

Keywords: Consumer choice; Information; Switching costs; Primary health care; Field experiments (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D83 I11 I18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 78 pages
Date: 2017-05-17, Revised 2018-06-27
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-exp, nep-hea, nep-ict and nep-mkt
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Journal Article: Information, switching costs, and consumer choice: Evidence from two randomised field experiments in Swedish primary health care (2021)
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