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A Theory of Fraud and Over-Consumption in Experts Markets

Author

Listed:
  • Ingela Alger

    (Boston College)

  • Francois Salanie

    (INRA-LEERNA, Toulouse)

Abstract

Consumers often have to rely on an expert's diagnosis to assess their needs. If the expert is also the seller of services, he may use his informational advantage to induce over-consumption. Empirical evidence suggests that over-consumption is a pervasive phenomenon in experts markets. We prove the existence of equilibrium over-consumption in an otherwise purely competitive model. This market failure results from the freedom of consumers to turn down an expert's recommendation: experts defraud consumers in order to keep them uninformed, as this deters them from seeking a better price elsewhere. Our model also yields predictions on the diagnosis price that are in line with stylized facts, and provides a theory for why risk-neutral consumers would demand extended warranties on durables.

Suggested Citation

  • Ingela Alger & Francois Salanie, 2001. "A Theory of Fraud and Over-Consumption in Experts Markets," Boston College Working Papers in Economics 495, Boston College Department of Economics, revised 09 Nov 2004.
    • Handle: RePEc:boc:bocoec:495
    Note: This paper was previously circulated as "Competitive Pricing of Expert Services: Equilibrium Fraud and Partial Specialization"
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Uwe Dulleck & Jiong Gong & Jianpei Li, 2015. "Contracting for Infrastructure Projects as Credence Goods," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 17(3), pages 328-345, June.
    2. De Jaegher, Kris, 2010. "Physician incentives: Cure versus prevention," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 124-136, January.
    3. Hyndman, Kyle & Ozerturk, Saltuk, 2011. "Consumer information in a market for expert services," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 80(3), pages 628-640.
    4. Uwe Dulleck & Rudolf Kerschbamer & Matthias Sutter, 2009. "The Economics of Credence Goods: On the Role of Liability, Verifiability, Reputation and Competition," Working Papers 2009-03, Faculty of Economics and Statistics, Universität Innsbruck.
    5. Dulleck, Uwe & Kerschbamer, Rudolf, 2009. "Experts vs. discounters: Consumer free-riding and experts withholding advice in markets for credence goods," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 15-23, January.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    experts; fraud; over-consumption; extended warranties;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D41 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Perfect Competition
    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design
    • L11 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms

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