[go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/oup/cesifo/v63y2017i1p1-23..html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Economics of Credence Goods – a Survey of Recent Lab and Field Experiments

Author

Listed:
  • Rudolf Kerschbamer
  • Matthias Sutter
Abstract
Many important markets, such as those for health care or repair services, are characterized by pronounced informational asymmetries between buyers and sellers – because the buyer cannot identify the quality of the product that fits her needs best, while the seller can do so by performing a diagnosis. The seller can then recommend the appropriate or an inappropriate quality. Since the buyer has no means to verify the correctness of the recommendation but has to rely on the honesty of the seller, such goods are called credence goods. Markets for credence goods are typically plagued by incentives for fraudulent behavior and by inefficiencies caused by actual or expected fraud, covering overprovision and overcharging. Although highly policy relevant, a carefully controlled analysis of the provision of credence goods through the use of experiments has only recently taken off. Here, we provide an overview about recent laboratory and field experiments on the economics of credence goods and discuss important implications and directions for future research.

Suggested Citation

  • Rudolf Kerschbamer & Matthias Sutter, 2017. "The Economics of Credence Goods – a Survey of Recent Lab and Field Experiments," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 63(1), pages 1-23.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:cesifo:v:63:y:2017:i:1:p:1-23.
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/cesifo/ifx001
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Iman Ahmadi, 2023. "Face/Off: The adverse effects of increased competition," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 21(2), pages 183-279, June.
    2. Jonathan Hall & Rudolf Kerschbamer & Daniel Neururer & Eric Skoog, 2019. "Uncovering sophisticated discrimination with the help of credence goods markups - evidence from a natural field experiment," Working Papers 2019-11, Faculty of Economics and Statistics, Universität Innsbruck.
    3. Finocchiaro Castro Massimo & Lisi Domenico & Romeo Domenica, 2024. "An Experimental Analysis of Patient Dumping Under Different Payment Systems," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 24(1), pages 205-258, January.
    4. Parampreet Christopher Bindra & Rudolf Kerschbamer & Daniel Neururer & Matthias Sutter, 2020. "Reveal it or conceal it: On the value of second opinions in a low-entry-barriers credence goods market," ECONtribute Discussion Papers Series 004, University of Bonn and University of Cologne, Germany.
    5. Balafoutas, Loukas & Kerschbamer, Rudolf, 2020. "Credence goods in the literature: What the past fifteen years have taught us about fraud, incentives, and the role of institutions," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 26(C).
    6. Bruno Lanz & Evert Reins, 2021. "Asymmetric Information on the Market for Energy Efficiency: Insights from the Credence Goods Literature," The Energy Journal, , vol. 42(4), pages 91-110, July.
    7. Castro, Massimo Finocchiaro & Ferrara, Paolo Lorenzo & Guccio, Calogero & Lisi, Domenico, 2019. "Medical malpractice liability and physicians’ behavior: Experimental evidence," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 646-666.
    8. Rupieper, Li Kathrin & Proeger, Till, 2018. "Asymmetrische Information auf dem Handwerksmarkt – eine qualitative Analyse," ifh Working Papers 15/2018, Volkswirtschaftliches Institut für Mittelstand und Handwerk an der Universität Göttingen (ifh).
    9. Martin Obradovits & Philipp Plaickner, 2024. "Searching for Treatment," Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 180(1), pages 144-186.
    10. Rudolf Kerschbamer & Daniel Neururer & Matthias Sutter, 2019. "Credence goods markets and the informational value of new media: A natural field experiment," Working Papers 2019-02, Faculty of Economics and Statistics, Universität Innsbruck.
    11. Cheo, Roland & Ge, Ge & Liu, Rugang & Wang, Jian & Wang, Qiqi, 2023. "Physician beneficence and profit-taking among private for-profit clinics in China: A field study using a mystery shopper audit," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    12. Jost, Peter-J. & Reik, Steffen & Ressi, Anna, 2021. "The information paradox in a monopolist’s credence goods market," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    13. Dufwenberg, Martin & Feldman, Paul & Servátka, Maroš & Tarrasó, Jorge & Vadovič, Radovan, 2023. "Honesty in the city," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 15-25.
      • Dufwenberg, Martin & Servátka, Maroš & Tarrasó, Jorge & Vadovič, Radovan, 2021. "Honesty in the City," MPRA Paper 106256, University Library of Munich, Germany.
      • Martin Dufwenberg & Paul Feldman & Maros Servatka & Jorge Tarraso & Radovan Vadovic, 2022. "Honesty in the City," Working Papers 2022-03, University of Alaska Anchorage, Department of Economics.
      • Dufwenberg, Martin & Feldman, Paul & Servátka, Maroš & Tarrasó, Jorge & Vadovič, Radovan, 2022. "Honesty in the city," MPRA Paper 115044, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Parampreet Christopher Bindra & Graeme Pearce, 2022. "The effect of priming on fraud: Evidence from a natural field experiment," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 60(4), pages 1854-1874, October.
    15. Fredrik Andersson & Henrik Jordahl & Jens Josephson, 2019. "Outsourcing Public Services: Contractibility, Cost, and Quality," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 65(4), pages 349-372.
    16. Lagarde, Mylène & Blaauw, Duane, 2022. "Overtreatment and benevolent provider moral hazard: Evidence from South African doctors," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    17. Lagarde, Mylène & Blaauw, Duane, 2022. "Overtreatment and benevolent provider moral hazard: evidence from South African doctors," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 115383, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    18. Proeger Till & Rupieper Li Kathrin, 2019. "Asymmetrische Information auf dem Handwerksmarkt – eine qualitative Analyse," Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftspolitik, De Gruyter, vol. 68(2), pages 149-182, August.
    19. Perodaud, Maxime & Hanaki, Nobuyuki & Yamada, Takashi, 2022. "An experimental analysis of gender discrimination in a credence goods market," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    20. Agrawal, Anjali & Green, Ellen P. & Lavergne, Lisa, 2019. "Gender effects in the credence goods market: An experimental study," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 174(C), pages 195-199.
    21. Francisco Scott, 2023. "An Experimental Analysis of Quality Misperception in Food Labels," Research Working Paper RWP 23-11, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    credence goods; asymmetric information; policy; lab experiment; field experiment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C91 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Individual Behavior
    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments
    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:oup:cesifo:v:63:y:2017:i:1:p:1-23.. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Oxford University Press (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cesifde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.