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Car mechanics in the lab: investigating the behavior of real experts on experimental markets for credence goods

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  • Adrian Beck
  • Rudolf Kerschbamer
  • Jianying Qiu
  • Matthias Sutter

Abstract

Credence goods, such as car repairs or medical services, are characterized by severe informational asymmetries between sellers and consumers, leading to fraud in the form of provision of insufficient service (undertreatment), provision of unnecessary service (overtreatment) and charging too much for a given service (overcharging). Recent experimental research involving a standard (student) subject pool has examined the influence of informational and market conditions on the type and level of fraud. We investigate whether professional car mechanics – as real sellers of credence goods – react in the same way to changes in informational and institutional constraints. While we find qualitatively similar effects in the fraud dimensions of undertreatment and overcharging for both subject pools, car mechanics are significantly more prone to supplying unnecessary services in all conditions, which could be a result of decision heuristics they learned in their professional training.

Suggested Citation

  • Adrian Beck & Rudolf Kerschbamer & Jianying Qiu & Matthias Sutter, 2014. "Car mechanics in the lab: investigating the behavior of real experts on experimental markets for credence goods," Economics Working Papers ECO2014/02, European University Institute.
    • Handle: RePEc:eui:euiwps:eco2014/02
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    Cited by:

    1. 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).
    2. Huck, Steffen & Lünser, Gabriele & Spitzer, Florian & Tyran, Jean-Robert, 2016. "Medical insurance and free choice of physician shape patient overtreatment: A laboratory experiment," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 131(PB), pages 78-105.
    3. Feser, Daniel & Runst, Petrik, 2015. "Energy efficiency consultants as change agents? Examining the reasons for EECs’ limited success," ifh Working Papers 1 (2015), Volkswirtschaftliches Institut für Mittelstand und Handwerk an der Universität Göttingen (ifh).
    4. Edi Karni, 2024. "Preventive-service fraud in credence good markets," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 78(2), pages 593-617, September.
    5. Chloe Tergiman & Marie Claire Villeval, 2023. "The Way People Lie in Markets: Detectable vs. Deniable Lies," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 69(6), pages 3340-3357, June.
    6. Ivan Soraperra & Anton Suvorov & Jeroen Van de Ven & Marie Claire Villeval, 2019. "Doing Bad to Look Good: Negative Consequences of Image Concerns on Prosocial Behavior," Revue économique, Presses de Sciences-Po, vol. 70(6), pages 945-966.
    7. Ben Greiner & Le Zhang & Chengxiang Tang, 2017. "Separation of prescription and treatment in health care markets: A laboratory experiment," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(S3), pages 21-35, December.
    8. Silvia Angerer & Daniela Glätzle-Rützler & Christian Waibel, 2021. "Trust in health care credence goods: Experimental evidence on framing and subject pool effects," Working Papers 2021-13, Faculty of Economics and Statistics, Universität Innsbruck.
    9. Iman Ahmadi, 2023. "Face/Off: The adverse effects of increased competition," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 21(2), pages 183-279, June.
    10. van Hoorn, André, 2018. "The use of identity primes to explain behavioral differences between groups: A methodological note," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 146-150.
    11. Chloe Tergiman & Marie Claire Villeval, 2019. "The Way People Lie in Markets," Working Papers halshs-02292040, HAL.
    12. Gamp, Tobias & Krähmer, Daniel, 2022. "Competition in Search Markets with Naive Consumers," Rationality and Competition Discussion Paper Series 364, CRC TRR 190 Rationality and Competition.
    13. Rong, Rong & Barton, Jared, 2021. "I’ll be there: Promises in the field," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 20-26.
    14. Tang, Johnny Jiahao, 2020. "Individual heterogeneity and cultural attitudes in credence goods provision," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    15. Feser, Daniel & Runst, Petrik, 2016. "Energy efficiency consultants as change agents? Examining the reasons for EECs’ limited success," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 309-317.
    16. 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.
    17. Katharina Momsen & Markus Ohndorf, 2022. "Seller Opportunism in Credence Good Markets – The Role of Market Conditions," Working Papers 2022-10, Faculty of Economics and Statistics, Universität Innsbruck.
    18. Feser, Daniel & Proeger, Till, 2015. "Asymmetric information as a barrier to knowledge spillovers in expert markets," University of Göttingen Working Papers in Economics 259, University of Goettingen, Department of Economics.
    19. Daniel Feser & Till Proeger, 2017. "Asymmetric information as a barrier to knowledge spillovers in expert markets," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 13(1), pages 211-232, March.
    20. Farukh, Razi & Kerkhof, Anna & Loebbing, Jonas, 2020. "Inefficiency and Regulation in Credence Goods Markets with Altruistic Experts," VfS Annual Conference 2020 (Virtual Conference): Gender Economics 224590, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    21. Dominik Erharter, 2012. "Credence goods markets, distributional preferences and the role of institutions," Working Papers 2012-11, Faculty of Economics and Statistics, Universität Innsbruck.
    22. Felix Gottschalk, 2021. "Regulating Markets with Advice: An Experimental Study," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 83(1), pages 1-31, February.
    23. Chiu, Yen-Lin & Karni, Edi, 2021. "Competitive equilibrium fraud in markets for credence-goods," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    24. Bernd Irlenbusch & Marie Claire Villeval, 2015. "Behavioral ethics: how psychology influenced economics and how economics might inform psychology?," Post-Print halshs-01159696, HAL.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Artefactual field experiment; car mechanics; credence goods;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C91 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Individual Behavior
    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design
    • C72 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Noncooperative Games

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