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What drives fraud in a credence goods market? Evidence from a field study

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  • Rasch, Alexander
  • Waibel, Christian

Abstract

This paper investigates the impact of four key economic variables on an expert firm's incentive to defraud its customers in a credence goods market: the level of competition, the expert firm's financial situation, its competence, and its reputational concerns. We use and complement the dataset of a nationwide field study conducted by the German Automobile Association that regularly checks the reliability of garages in Germany. We find that more intense competition and high competence lower a firm's incentive to overcharge. A low concern for reputation and a critical financial situation increase the incentive to overcharge.

Suggested Citation

  • Rasch, Alexander & Waibel, Christian, 2015. "What drives fraud in a credence goods market? Evidence from a field study," DICE Discussion Papers 180, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE).
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:dicedp:180
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    8. Loukas Balafoutas & Adrian Beck & Rudolf Kerschbamer & Matthias Sutter, 2013. "What Drives Taxi Drivers? A Field Experiment on Fraud in a Market for Credence Goods," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 80(3), pages 876-891.
    9. Uwe Dulleck & Rudolf Kerschbamer & Matthias Sutter, 2011. "The Economics of Credence Goods: An Experiment on the Role of Liability, Verifiability, Reputation, and Competition," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(2), pages 526-555, April.
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    11. Asher Wolinsky, 1993. "Competition in a Market for Informed Experts' Services," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 24(3), pages 380-398, Autumn.
    12. Ginger Zhe Jin & Phillip Leslie, 2009. "Reputational Incentives for Restaurant Hygiene," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 1(1), pages 237-267, February.
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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. Balafoutas, Loukas & Fornwagner, Helena & Kerschbamer, Rudolf & Sutter, Matthias & Tverdostup, Maryna, 2020. "Diagnostic Uncertainty and Insurance Coverage in Credence Goods Markets," IZA Discussion Papers 13848, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. 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.
    4. Ahlin, Christian & Kim, In Kyung & Kim, Kyoo il, 2021. "Who commits fraud? evidence from korean gas stations," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    5. 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.
    6. Utgård, Jakob & Nygaard, Arne & Dahlstrom, Robert, 2015. "Franchising, local market characteristics and alcohol sales to minors," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 68(10), pages 2117-2124.
    7. Iman Ahmadi, 2023. "Face/Off: The adverse effects of increased competition," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 21(2), pages 183-279, June.
    8. Silvia Angerer & Daniela Glätzle‐Rützler & Christian Waibel, 2021. "Monitoring institutions in healthcare markets: Experimental evidence," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(5), pages 951-971, May.
    9. Kandul, Serhiy & Lanz, Bruno & Reins, Evert, 2023. "Reciprocity and gift exchange in markets for credence goods," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 52-69.
    10. Angelova, Vera & Regner, Tobias, 2016. "Can a bonus overcome moral hazard? An experiment on voluntary payments, competition, and reputation in markets for expert services," SFB 649 Discussion Papers 2016-027, Humboldt University Berlin, Collaborative Research Center 649: Economic Risk.
    11. Chloe Tergiman & Marie Claire Villeval, 2019. "The Way People Lie in Markets," Working Papers halshs-02292040, HAL.
    12. Theodore Alysandratos & Sotiris Georganas & Matthias Sutter, 2022. "Reputation vs Selection Effects in Markets with Informational Asymmetries," Discussion Paper Series of the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods 2022_08, Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods.
    13. Razi Farukh & Anna Kerkhof & Jonas Loebbing, 2020. "Inefficiency and Regulation in Credence Goods Markets with Altruistic Experts," Working Paper Series in Economics 102, University of Cologne, Department of Economics.
    14. 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.
    15. Céline Bonnet & Jan Philip Schain, 2020. "An Empirical Analysis Of Mergers: Efficiency Gains And Impact On Consumer Prices," Journal of Competition Law and Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 16(1), pages 1-35.
    16. repec:hum:wpaper:sfb649dp2016-027 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Angelova, Vera & Regner, Tobias, 2018. "Can a bonus overcome moral hazard? Experimental evidence from markets for expert services," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 154(C), pages 362-378.
    18. Martin Obradovits & Philipp Plaickner, 2024. "Searching for Treatment," Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 180(1), pages 144-186.
    19. Kerschbamer, Rudolf & Neururer, Daniel & Sutter, Matthias, 2019. "Credence Goods Markets and the Informational Value of New Media: A Natural Field Experiment," IZA Discussion Papers 12184, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    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. Fang Liu & Alexander Rasch & Marco Alexander Schwarz & Christian Waibel, 2020. "The Role of Diagnostic Ability in Markets for Expert Services," CESifo Working Paper Series 8704, CESifo.
    22. Angerer, Silvia & Glätzle-Rützler, Daniela & Waibel, Christian, 2023. "Framing and subject pool effects in healthcare credence goods," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 103(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Asymmetric information; Auto repair market; Credence goods; Expert; Fraud; Overcharging;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design
    • L15 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Information and Product Quality

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