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What Does Reputation Buy? Differentiation in a Market for Third-Party Auditors

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  • Esther Duflo
  • Michael Greenstone
  • Rohini Pande
  • Nicholas Ryan

Abstract

We study differences in quality in the market for third-party environmental auditors in Gujarat, India. We find that, despite the low overall quality, auditors are heterogeneous and some perform well. We posit that these high-quality auditors survive by using their good name to insulate select client plants from regulatory scrutiny. We find two pieces of evidence broadly consistent with this hypothesis: (i) though estimates are not precise, higher-quality auditors appear to be paid more both in their work as third-party auditors and in their complementary work as consultants; and (ii) plants with high-quality auditors incur fewer costly penalties from the regulator.

Suggested Citation

  • Esther Duflo & Michael Greenstone & Rohini Pande & Nicholas Ryan, 2013. "What Does Reputation Buy? Differentiation in a Market for Third-Party Auditors," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(3), pages 314-319, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aecrev:v:103:y:2013:i:3:p:314-19
    Note: DOI: 10.1257/aer.103.3.314
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jean Tirole, 1988. "The Theory of Industrial Organization," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262200716, December.
    2. Abhijit V. Banerjee & Esther Duflo, 2000. "Reputation Effects and the Limits of Contracting: A Study of the Indian Software Industry," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 115(3), pages 989-1017.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Esther Duflo & Michael Greenstone & Nicholas Ryan, 2013. "Truth-telling by Third-party Auditors and the Response of Polluting Firms: Experimental Evidence from India," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 128(4), pages 1499-1545.
    2. Philippe Mahenc, 2017. "Honest versus Misleading Certification," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(2), pages 454-483, June.
    3. Sabyasachi Kar & Lant Pritchett & Spandan Roy & Kunal Sen, 2022. "Doing business in a deals world: the doubly false premise of rules reform," Journal of Economic Policy Reform, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(4), pages 361-387, October.
    4. Anthony Heyes & Steve Martin, 2018. "Inefficient NGO labels: Strategic proliferation and fragmentation in the market for certification," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(2), pages 206-220, June.
    5. Annalisa Zezza & Federica Demaria & Tiziana Laureti & Luca Secondi, 2020. "Supervising third-party control bodies for certification: the case of organic farming in Italy," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 8(1), pages 1-14, December.
    6. Chen Liang & Yili Hong & Bin Gu, 2016. "Effects of IT-enabled Monitoring on Labor Contracting in Online Platforms: Evidence from a Natural Experiment," Working Papers 16-01, NET Institute.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
    • M42 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - Auditing
    • O13 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Agriculture; Natural Resources; Environment; Other Primary Products
    • O14 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Industrialization; Manufacturing and Service Industries; Choice of Technology
    • Q52 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Pollution Control Adoption and Costs; Distributional Effects; Employment Effects
    • Q56 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environment and Development; Environment and Trade; Sustainability; Environmental Accounts and Accounting; Environmental Equity; Population Growth

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