TY - JOUR
T1 - Putting on a tight leash and levelling playing field
T2 - an experiment in strategic obfuscation and consumer protection
AU - Gu, Yiquan
AU - Wenzel, Tobias
PY - 2015/9
Y1 - 2015/9
N2 - The paper reports the results of an experiment where asymmetric sellers of a product can obfuscate the market. We show that policy measures may have unintended effects of increasing obfuscation incentives. We find that policies that limit the effectiveness of obfuscation and policies that promote parity between firms can lead less prominent firms to increase their obfuscation efforts. Despite this unintended effect, however, the former type of policies is effective in boosting consumer welfare.
AB - The paper reports the results of an experiment where asymmetric sellers of a product can obfuscate the market. We show that policy measures may have unintended effects of increasing obfuscation incentives. We find that policies that limit the effectiveness of obfuscation and policies that promote parity between firms can lead less prominent firms to increase their obfuscation efforts. Despite this unintended effect, however, the former type of policies is effective in boosting consumer welfare.
UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijindorg.2015.07.008
U2 - 10.1016/j.ijindorg.2015.07.008
DO - 10.1016/j.ijindorg.2015.07.008
M3 - Article
SN - 0167-7187
VL - 42
SP - 120
EP - 128
JO - International Journal of Industrial Organization
JF - International Journal of Industrial Organization
ER -