Information, switching costs, and consumer choice: Evidence from two randomised field experiments in Swedish primary health care
Journal of Public Economics · 2021 · Anders Anell、Jens Dietrichson、Lina Maria Ellegård、Gustav Kjellsson
中文摘要
消费者选择政策可能改善消费者与服务提供者之间的匹配，并可能激发在消费者所关注的质量维度上的竞争。然而，在以信息摩擦和转换成本为特征的市场中，选择带来的收益可能无法实现。我们利用初级卫生保健领域的两项大规模随机实地实验，检验个人在通过邮寄收到包含比较信息的传单和预付选择表时，是否会重新考虑其服务提供者选择。第一项实验针对瑞典某地区130万居民中的一个代表性子样本。第二项实验针对同一地区的新居民，这一群体预期拥有较少的先前信息，且转换成本低于一般人群。在干预之后，转换服务提供者的倾向在具有人口代表性的样本中（提高0.6–0.8个百分点，即10–14%）和新居民中（提高2.3个百分点，即26%）均有所上升。结果表明，初级保健市场存在需求侧摩擦。探索性分析表明，对转换的影响在城市市场更大，且干预对所选择提供者类型以及医疗和药品消费具有异质性效应。
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.