The prosperity of online shopping has led e-commerce vendors to provide increasingly rich information, particularly for experience products, to enhance consumers' shopping experience and satisfaction. However, there is little awareness that consumers may not be able to process all the information available because of human beings' limited information processing capacity. Online shoppers could be easily confused when facing rich information, particularly when the amount of information greatly exceeds their processing capacity. In contrast to previous research which has focused on the formatting of information or user interfaces to solve the information overload problem, this study explores a new solution based on the role of unconscious thought. Integrating information processing theory and the unconscious thought theory, the current study examines the different roles of information quantity, information quality and thought mode in consumers' decision satisfaction, in the presence of rich information. Our results show that unconscious thought moderates the relationship between information quality and consumer satisfaction towards their decision making when shopping experience products online, and is thus worthy of special attention in the design of e-commerce websites. The study contributes to both unconscious thought theory and information processing theory by exploring the interaction effect of the quantity and quality of information with thought mode in affecting the quality of purchasing decisions.

Understanding online purchase decision making: The effects of unconscious thought, information quality, and information quantity

Three main tasks can be identified for comparative law. The first is to investigate differences between legal systems and, in particular, to distinguish between “real” differences, where the outcomes of the application of principles diverge between legal systems, and “superficial” differences, where similar outcomes are masked by the conceptual structures of the relevant systems. The second is to trace developments in the relationships between legal systems and thus to explore tendencies of convergence or divergence (in terms of “real” differences), noting that in some areas convergence may be required under international legal instruments. The third task is to explain and to evaluate such developments: why do systems converge or diverge? Is convergence desirable or undesirable?

https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0020589300063259

Competition Between National Legal Systems: A Contribution of Economic Analysis To Comparative Law

Previous literature indicates that, when quality is a choice variable, firms have an incentive to produce high quality to maintain their reputations with consumers. The strategic interaction among firms and competition for market share is not considered. This paper finds that, when firms compete for market share, perfect equilibria in which firms produce high-quality goods need not exist. Competition for customers can eliminate the price premium needed to induce firms to maintain a reputation for high-quality production. In this case, economists and policy analysts should pay greater attention to the interaction among firms and the institutions, such as professional associations, that structure interfirm relations when considering whether firms have an incentive to produce high-quality goods.

/pdf/competition-and-the-incentive-to-produce-high-quality-4m4evei8wb.pdf

Competition and the Incentive to Produce High Quality

Gatekeepers: The Professions and Corporate Governance

Most consumer decisions involve trade-offs of costs and benefits over time. The research literature on “intertemporal choice” examines behavioral regularities in how people think about such decisions, drawing from marketing, psychology, and behavioral economics. This diverse literature is relevant to the analysis of public policy issues related to consumers' discounting of future outcomes “too much” compared with sooner outcomes. A stream of outcomes can be viewed as occurring in three temporal regions: the present, the near future, and the more distant future. Somewhat different research streams have developed around the topic of underweighting outcomes in the distant (compared with the near) future and of overweighting outcomes in the present compared with any point in the future. The authors review key concepts from the literature on underweighting the distant future versus the near-term future to analyze policy issues related to consumers' saving for retirement and their response to rebates. ...

/pdf/when-do-you-want-it-time-decisions-and-public-policy-37r48shzwe.pdf

When Do You Want It? Time, Decisions, and Public Policy

The aim of this book is to explore the economic fundamentals of European competition law Even though most commentators would agree that competition policy is concerned with the economic consequences of market power, they would not all subscribe the view that curing the possible inefficiencies of market power is the sole aim of competition law In the USA, under influence of the Chicago School, the antitrust regulation focuses on economic goals and more specifically on allocation and production efficiency However, in European competition policy non-economic goals play a more important role European competition policy embraces a multitude of political goals The most prominent of these objectives, among others, is the achievement of market integration, which eventually may come at the expense of inefficiencies in the organisation of production and distribution In addition, European competition policy puts emphasis on consumer welfare, freedom of action and fairness and on the protection of small and medium sized companies Nevertheless, this book shows that an economic interpretation of the European competition rules remains possible; it is only required to broaden the traditional theorems of welfare economics with a full consideration of the consequences of efficiency savings for consumers, which obviously adds an additional layer of complexity to the analysis

European Competition Law and Economics: A Comparative Perspective

Diversity in legal rules allows to satisfy a larger number of preferences and safeguards the benefits of competition as a learning process. Harmonisation of laws should be limited to fields of law where economic distortions, such as a "race to the bottom" or significant negative externalities across jurisdictions, occur or significant scale economies can be achieved. Harmonisation measures should be well targeted at the issues at stake. The risk of political distortions must equally be minimised. To improve upon the existing quasi-constitutional framework, the paper proposes integrated step-by-step Guidelines for decision-making by the European regulator. Copyright 2000 by WWZ and Helbing & Lichtenhahn Verlag AG

Towdards an Institutional Legal Framework for Regulatory Competition in Europe

Lawyers tend to see cooling-off periods in consumer laws as a remedy for the problems caused by unequal bargaining power between sellers of goods and consumers. This article takes a different approach and argues that cooling-off periods can be seen as efficiency-enhancing devices. From an economic point of view, cooling-off periods provide a remedy for irrational behaviour on the part of consumers and may cure market failures, in particular problems caused by situational monopolies and asymmetric information. In spite of these important benefits, the economic approach also warns against possible disadvantages. The latter range from a moral hazard problem on the side of the consumer to the adverse counter-productive effects of cooling-off periods. A legislator who is informed by economic analysis may design cooling-off periods in ways that maximise their ability to cure inefficiencies and at the same time minimise their potential detrimental effects. Unfortunately, the relevant EC Directives and the current consumer laws of the Member States are not in perfect harmony with an efficiency enhancing-approach.

Roger Van den Bergh

Papers

European Competition Law and Economics: A Comparative Perspective

Towdards an Institutional Legal Framework for Regulatory Competition in Europe

Cooling-Off Periods in the Consumer Laws of the EC Member States. A Comparative Law and Economics Approach

The Subsidiarity Principle in European Community Law: Some Insights from Law and Economics

Subsidiarity as an Economic Demarcation Principle and the Emergence of European Private Law