We discuss the impact of consumer protection policies on consumer incentives to become informed of the best deals available in the market. In a market with costly consumer search, we find that imposing a cap on suppliers' prices reduces the incentive to engage in search, with the result that...

The volume contains the papers presented during the International conference entitled:’ Agro-food and rural economy competitiveness in terms of global crisis’, organized by the Faculty of Agro-Food and Environmental Economics from Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies, Institute Of...

This paper summarizes some of my recent work on consumer protection. I present three theoretical models which illustrate the merits and drawbacks of a number of common consumer protection policies, namely: policies which prevent firms from setting unduly high prices; policies which prevent firms...

This paper surveys models of markets in which only some consumers are "savvy". I discuss when the presence of savvy consumers improves the deals available to all consumers in the market (the case of search externalities), and when the non-savvy fund generous deals for all consumers (ripoff...

This paper surveys models of markets in which some consumers are "savvy" while others are not. We discuss when the presence of savvy consumers improves the deals available to non-savvy consumers in the market (the case of search externalities), and when the non-savvy fund generous deals for...

We found no evidence that consumers benefit from government-mandated disclaimers in advertising. Experiments and common experience show that admonishments to change or avoid behaviors often have effects opposite to those intended. We found 18 experimental studies that provided evidence relevant...

The effect of consumer protection on firms’ strategy choices in a market with perfect competition is examined in a simple model. It is found that consumer protection may lead to reduced product quality and adverse effects on firm survival.

As could be expected, the global financial crisis is on everybody’s mind and causing a lot of worries. The current crisis has reached the consumers globally and intensified conversations about consumer protection. It has threatened their wealth as people have lost their assets, savings and...

Contingent charges for financial services, such as fees for unauthorized overdrafts, are often controversial. We study the economics of contingent charges in a stylized setting with naive and sophisticated consumers. We contrast situations where the naive benefit from the presence of...

This article presents the main issues relating to the goals of modern Polish competition law. It examines the relationship between the subject-matter of competition law, its function and its goals. It identifies various goals of competition law as well as their acceptance in the legal doctrine...