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Gier, N. et al.On the concept of a consumer information system as a supplement – or alternative? – to the classical information label

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Authors:
Nadine Gier, Caspar Krampe, Lucia A. Reisch & Peter Kenning

Release date:
2018

Publication:
Journal for Consumer Protection and Food Safety, Special Issue "Verbraucherinformation", pages 39–45, doi: 10.1007/s00003-017-1144-7

One of the main problems of modern economies is the information asymmetry between providers and consumers of a service, which is often caused by the division of labor processes and respectively differentiated value chains. On the subject of "animal welfare" it can be maintained that it is a "Credence Attributes" of a product, whose manifestation by the consumer, for instance with the product "meat", can hardly be determined at the point of sale (PoS). Information economics has responded to this market failure and developed various approaches to reduce such information asymmetries. The classic response of consumer policy is 'signaling' by using 'labels' or 'seals'. Essentially, these are intended to signal to the consumer at first sight, in a way that is easy to understand and reliable, a quality that is more or less certain.

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