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Cheap-Talk Referrals of Differentiated Experts in Repeated Relationships

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  • In-Uck Park

    (University of Bristol, U.K.)

Abstract

The effectiveness of cheap talk advice is examined in recurrent relationships between a customer and multiple experts who provide differentiated professional services. The main findings are: (i) Full honesty is not sustainable if the profitability of service provision varies widely across problems. (ii) As there are more experts due to finer specialization, the maximum equilibrium honesty level deteriorates. (iii) Nonetheless, the equilibria that satisfy an internal consistency condition, implement the same (unique) honesty level regardless of the number of experts. Furthermore, the customer can extract this honesty level by consulting a ``panel'' of only one or two (but no more) experts all the time.

Suggested Citation

  • In-Uck Park, 2005. "Cheap-Talk Referrals of Differentiated Experts in Repeated Relationships," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 36(2), pages 391-411, Summer.
  • Handle: RePEc:rje:randje:v:36:y:2005:2:p:391-411
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Simona Grassi & Ching-to Albert Ma, 2016. "Information acquisition, referral, and organization," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 47(4), pages 935-960, November.
    2. Larry G. Epstein & Hiroaki Kaido & Kyoungwon Seo, 2016. "Robust Confidence Regions for Incomplete Models," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 84, pages 1799-1838, September.
    3. Junghun Cho, 2008. "Sequential Cheap Talk from Advisors with Reputation," CERGE-EI Working Papers wp352, The Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economics Institute, Prague.
    4. Alexander Rasch & Christian Waibel, 2018. "What Drives Fraud in a Credence Goods Market? – Evidence from a Field Study," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 80(3), pages 605-624, June.
    5. Li, Ming & Tymofiy Mylovanov, 2009. "Credibility for Sale: the Effect of Disclosure on Information Acquisition and Transmission," Working Papers 09008, Concordia University, Department of Economics, revised Oct 2009.
    6. Dina Mayzlin & Hema Yoganarasimhan, 2012. "Link to Success: How Blogs Build an Audience by Promoting Rivals," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 58(9), pages 1651-1668, September.
    7. repec:cgr:cgsser:03-07 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Guanghua Han & Ming Dong, 2017. "Sustainable Regulation of Information Sharing with Electronic Data Interchange by a Trust-Embedded Contract," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(6), pages 1-22, June.
    9. Daniele Condorelli & Andrea Galeotti & Vasiliki Skreta, 2018. "Selling through referrals," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(4), pages 669-685, October.
    10. Schottmüller, Christoph, 2019. "Too good to be truthful: Why competent advisers are fired," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 181(C), pages 333-360.
    11. Bruno Jullien & In-Uck Park, 2009. "Seller Reputation and Trust in Pre-Trade Communication," Levine's Working Paper Archive 814577000000000330, David K. Levine.
    12. Dominik Erharter, 2012. "Credence goods markets, distributional preferences and the role of institutions," Working Papers 2012-11, Faculty of Economics and Statistics, Universität Innsbruck.
    13. Alexander Frankel & Michael Schwarz, 2014. "Experts And Their Records," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 52(1), pages 56-71, January.
    14. Fabio Landini & Antonio Nicolò & Marco Piovesan, 2013. "The Hidden Cost of Specialization," IFRO Working Paper 2013/9, University of Copenhagen, Department of Food and Resource Economics.
    15. Kohei Kawamura, 2007. "Constrained Communication with Multiple Agents: Anonymity, Equal Treatment, and Public Good Provision," Edinburgh School of Economics Discussion Paper Series 166, Edinburgh School of Economics, University of Edinburgh.
    16. John P. Lightle, 2014. "The Paternalistic Bias of Expert Advice," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(4), pages 876-898, December.
    17. Junghun Cho, 2006. "Multiple Advisors with Reputation," CERGE-EI Working Papers wp314, The Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economics Institute, Prague.

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