Information, switching costs, and consumer choice: Evidence from two randomised field experiments in Swedish primary health care
(2021) In Journal of Public Economics 196.- Abstract
- Consumer choice policies may improve the matching of consumers and providers, and may spur competition over quality dimensions relevant to consumers. However, the gains from choice may fail to materialise in markets characterised by information frictions and switching costs. We use two large-scale randomised field experiments in primary health care to examine if individuals reconsider their provider choice when receiving leaflets with comparative information and pre-paid choice forms by postal mail. The first experiment targeted a representative subset of the 1.3 million residents in a Swedish region. The second targeted new residents in the same region, a group expected to have less prior information and lower switching costs than the... (More)
- Consumer choice policies may improve the matching of consumers and providers, and may spur competition over quality dimensions relevant to consumers. However, the gains from choice may fail to materialise in markets characterised by information frictions and switching costs. We use two large-scale randomised field experiments in primary health care to examine if individuals reconsider their provider choice when receiving leaflets with comparative information and pre-paid choice forms by postal mail. The first experiment targeted a representative subset of the 1.3 million residents in a Swedish region. The second targeted new residents in the same region, a group expected to have less prior information and lower switching costs than the general population. The propensity to switch providers increased after the interventions in both the population-representative sample (by 0.6–0.8 percentage points, 10–14%) and among new residents (2.3 percentage points, 26%). The results demonstrate that there are demand side frictions in the primary care market. Exploratory analyses indicate that the effects on switching were larger in urban markets and that the interventions had heterogeneous effects on the type of providers chosen, and on health care and drug consumption. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/9f4d4c05-f866-498d-ba19-62c694e132d0
- author
- Anell, Anders LU ; Dietrichson, Jens LU ; Ellegård, Lina Maria LU and Kjellsson, Gustav LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2021-04-01
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Information friction, Switching costs, Consumer choice, Field experiment, Primary care, D89, I11
- in
- Journal of Public Economics
- volume
- 196
- article number
- 104390
- publisher
- Elsevier
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85103054246
- ISSN
- 0047-2727
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2021.104390
- project
- Public Management Research
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 9f4d4c05-f866-498d-ba19-62c694e132d0
- date added to LUP
- 2021-03-19 08:51:54
- date last changed
- 2022-04-27 00:53:52
@article{9f4d4c05-f866-498d-ba19-62c694e132d0,
abstract = {{Consumer choice policies may improve the matching of consumers and providers, and may spur competition over quality dimensions relevant to consumers. However, the gains from choice may fail to materialise in markets characterised by information frictions and switching costs. We use two large-scale randomised field experiments in primary health care to examine if individuals reconsider their provider choice when receiving leaflets with comparative information and pre-paid choice forms by postal mail. The first experiment targeted a representative subset of the 1.3 million residents in a Swedish region. The second targeted new residents in the same region, a group expected to have less prior information and lower switching costs than the general population. The propensity to switch providers increased after the interventions in both the population-representative sample (by 0.6–0.8 percentage points, 10–14%) and among new residents (2.3 percentage points, 26%). The results demonstrate that there are demand side frictions in the primary care market. Exploratory analyses indicate that the effects on switching were larger in urban markets and that the interventions had heterogeneous effects on the type of providers chosen, and on health care and drug consumption.}},
author = {{Anell, Anders and Dietrichson, Jens and Ellegård, Lina Maria and Kjellsson, Gustav}},
issn = {{0047-2727}},
keywords = {{Information friction; Switching costs; Consumer choice; Field experiment; Primary care; D89; I11}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{04}},
publisher = {{Elsevier}},
series = {{Journal of Public Economics}},
title = {{Information, switching costs, and consumer choice: Evidence from two randomised field experiments in Swedish primary health care}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jpubeco.2021.104390}},
doi = {{10.1016/j.jpubeco.2021.104390}},
volume = {{196}},
year = {{2021}},
}