Consumer legislation such as laws against fraud, uniform standards and mandatory disclosure are imposed on market participants in order to ensure fair trade. One argument behind this legislation is that consumers are boundedly rational. I check the validity of this argument for spatially...

We run a market experiment where firms can choose not only their price but also whether to present comparable offers. They are faced with artificial demand from consumers who make mistakes when assessing the net value of products on the market. If some offers are comparable however, some...

We run a market experiment where firms can choose not only their price but also whether to present comparable offers. They are faced with artificial demand from consumers who make mistakes when assessing the net value of products on the market. If some offers are comparable however, some savvy...

Unfaire Vertriebsmethoden, begrenzte Offenlegung von Kosten, zweifelhafte Beratungen, unzureichende und unverständliche Verbraucherinformation sowie erfolglose Beschwerden attestieren insbesondere Verbraucherorganisationen der Riesterrentenversicherung und ihrem privatwirtschaftlichen Vertrieb...

We review the literature on credence goods since Dulleck and Kerschbamer (Journal of Economic Literature 44(1), 5-42, 2006). We consider various markets for credence goods and briefly discuss evidence on the extent of fraud. We then review theoretical and empirical contributions on the...

The paper deals with the use and diffusion of the geographical indication in the European Union countries, having as objective the protection of the products’ names, which are registered as Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) and Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) labels. The reason for...

Many legal rules—ranging from common-law contract doctrines to modern consumer protection regulation—are designed to protect individuals from their own mistakes. Scholars have neglected a core difficulty facing such policies: we humans are a motley bunch, and we are defined in part by our...

The introduction of comparative product testing in Germany reflected the rise of a mass consumer society within a rapidly changing market economy. The first proposal to establish a federally supported institute for product testing was made in 1957. Proponents wished to reduce the asymmetries of...

Google's new “Interest Based Advertising” (IBA) program represents the company's first foray into what is generally called “Online Behavioral Advertising”: In order to deliver more relevant advertising, Google will begin tailoring ads delivered through AdSense on the Google Content...

Predatory lending, the origination of loans with abusive terms to homeowners, is rampant in the subprime mortgage market. In the last few years, many states responded to this problem by enacting consumer protection laws. Large segments of the lending industry have opposed these laws. In large...