Lemons on the Web: A Signalling Approach to the Problem of Trust in Internet Commerce

Asymmetric information is at the heart of situations involving trust. In the case of B2C Internet commerce, the information asymmetry typically relates to the difficulty that consumers have of distinguishing between "trustworthy" and "untrustworthy" Web merchants. The impasse can be resolved by the use of signals by trustworthy Web merchants to differentiate themselves from untrustworthy ones. Using an experimental design where subjects are exposed to a series of purchase choices, we investigate three possible signals, an unconditional money-back guarantee, branding, and privacy statement, and test their efficacy. Our empirical results confirm the predictions suggested by signalling theory.trust (social behaviour), consumer behaviour

Understanding spatial variation in the utilization of health services: does quality matter?

Utilization of health services are an important policy concern in most developing countries, reflecting both efforts to improve health outcomes and to meet international obligations to make health services broadly accessible. Although many policy and research initiatives have focused on the need to improve physical access, not enough is understood about what factors affect health care choices, and why low levels of utilization persists among certain socioeconomic groups or geographic regions despite improved physical access. Reflecting these concerns, this paper focuses on the role of health care quality in understanding spatial variation in the utilization of both curative and preventive health services in Mozambique. The analysis is based on matched household and facility data, where the sample of household was drawn from the catchment area of each facility. The findings show that health care quality is a significant and important factor in women.s choice of delivery location. In particular, both the presence of maternity staff and a broader service range make it more likely that women choose a facility-based delivery. Conversely, the analysis suggests that quality is not a significant determinant in decisions about outpatient visits, while physical access, education, and economic variables are important. The findings hence suggest that the impact of quality may be service specific, and that although certain dimensions of quality may have little or no impact on outpatient visits, they may be important determinants of the use of other health services. As developing countries to continue to face difficult trade-offs between quality and physical access in the allocation of resources, it will be important to deepen our understanding of how individuals make health care choices. The results presented in this paper are a step in that direction.

Understanding spatial variation in the utilization of health

Utilization of health services are an important policy concern in most developing countries, reflecting both efforts to improve health outcomes and to meet international obligations to make health services broadly accessible. Although many policy and research initiatives have focused on the need to improve physical access, not enough is understood about what factors affect health care choices, and why low levels of utilization persists among certain socioeconomic groups or geographic regions despite improved physical access. Reflecting these concerns, this paper focuses on the role of health care quality in understanding spatial variation in the utilization of both curative and preventive health services in Mozambique. The analysis is based on matched household and facility data, where the sample of household was drawn from the catchment area of each facility. The findings show that health care quality is a significant and important factor in women's choice of delivery location. In particular, both the presence of maternity staff and a broader service range make it more likely that women choose a facility-based delivery. Conversely, the analysis suggests that quality is not a significant determinant in decisions about outpatient visits, while physical access, education, and economic variables are important. The findings hence suggest that the impact of quality may be service specific, and that although certain dimensions of quality may have little or no impact on outpatient visits, they may be important determinants of the use of other health services. As developing countries to continue to face difficult trade-offs between quality and physical access in the allocation of resources, it will be important to deepen our understanding of how individuals make health care choices. The results presented in this paper are a step in that direction.

Vote buying revisited: implications for receipt-freeness

In this paper, we analyse the concept of vote buying based on examples that try to stretch the meaning of the concept. Which ex- amples can still be called vote buying, and which cannot? We propose several dimensions that are relevant to qualifying an action as vote buy- ing or not. As a means of protection against vote buying and coercion, the concept of receipt-freeness has been proposed. We argue that, in or- der to protect against a larger set of vote buying activities, the concept of receipt-freeness should be interpreted probabilistically. We propose a general definition of probabilistic receipt-freeness by adapting existing definitions of probabilistic anonymity to voting

Difficulties in the use of equivalence scales for normative purpsoses

Can we make welfare comparisons of households of different characteristics on the basis of their observed behavior in relation to cornmodity demands? This paper reviews sorne of the fundamental difficulties encountered in the attempt to use the concept oí an equivalence scale as a vehic1e for introducing demographics and other characteristics into empirical demand analysis and, at the same time, for establishing interpersonal comparisons oí wel1-being

Fourth Amendment Accommodations: (UN)Compelling Public Needs, Balancing Acts, and the Fiction of Consent

The problems of public housing-including crime, drugs, and gun violence- have received an enormous amount of national attention. Much attention has also focused on warrantless searches and consent searches as solutions to these problems. This Note addresses the constitutionality of these proposals and asserts that if the Supreme Court\u27s current Fourth Amendment jurisprudence is taken to its logical extremes, warrantless searches in public housing can be found constitutional. The author argues, however, that such an interpretation fails to strike the proper balance between public need and privacy in the public housing context. The Note concludes by proposing alternative consent-based regimes that would pass constitutional muster

Counterfactual Explanations without Opening the Black Box: Automated Decisions and the GDPR

There has been much discussion of the right to explanation in the EU General Data Protection Regulation, and its existence, merits, and disadvantages. Implementing a right to explanation that opens the black box of algorithmic decision-making faces major legal and technical barriers. Explaining the functionality of complex algorithmic decision-making systems and their rationale in specific cases is a technically challenging problem. Some explanations may offer little meaningful information to data subjects, raising questions around their value. Explanations of automated decisions need not hinge on the general public understanding how algorithmic systems function. Even though such interpretability is of great importance and should be pursued, explanations can, in principle, be offered without opening the black box. Looking at explanations as a means to help a data subject act rather than merely understand, one could gauge the scope and content of explanations according to the specific goal or action they are intended to support. From the perspective of individuals affected by automated decision-making, we propose three aims for explanations: (1) to inform and help the individual understand why a particular decision was reached, (2) to provide grounds to contest the decision if the outcome is undesired, and (3) to understand what would need to change in order to receive a desired result in the future, based on the current decision-making model. We assess how each of these goals finds support in the GDPR. We suggest data controllers should offer a particular type of explanation, unconditional counterfactual explanations, to support these three aims. These counterfactual explanations describe the smallest change to the world that can be made to obtain a desirable outcome, or to arrive at the closest possible world, without needing to explain the internal logic of the system