caa a22 4500 467896461 CHVBK 20180406152805.0 cr unu---uuuuu 170328e20060601xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/s00181-006-0052-y doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/s00181-006-0052-y Consumers and experts: an econometric analysis of the demand for water heaters [Elektronische Daten] [Robert Bartels, Denzil Fiebig, Arthur van Soest] Consumers can accumulate product information on the basis of a combination of searching, product advertising and expert advice. Examples of experts who provide product information include doctors advising patients on treatments, motor mechanics diagnosing car problems and recommending repairs, accountants recommending investment strategies, and plumbers making recommendations on alternative water heaters. In each of these examples, the transactions involve the sale of goods and services where the seller is at the same time an expert providing advice on the amount and type of product or service to be purchased. In the case of water heaters, the plumber advising a consumer on their choice of water heater will most likely also install the appliance. Because of the information asymmetry there is potentially a strategic element in the transmission of information from expert to consumer. This paper reports on an econometric investigation of the factors that determine the choices made by consumers and the recommendations made by plumbers and the extent to which plumbers act in the best interests of their customers. The empirical work is made possible by the availability of stated preference data generated by designed experiments involving separate samples of Australian consumers and plumbers. We find some evidence that the average plumber's advice deviates from maximizing utility of the average consumer in a direction that increases the plumber's profit margins. Springer-Verlag, 2006 Appliance choice nationallicence Stated preference data nationallicence Mixed logit nationallicence Bartels Robert Econometrics and Business Statistics, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia aut Fiebig Denzil School of Economics, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia aut van Soest Arthur RAND, Santa Monica, and Tilburg University, Tilburg, The Netherlands aut Empirical Economics Physica-Verlag 31/2(2006-06-01), 369-391 0377-7332 31:2<369 2006 31 181 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00181-006-0052-y text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00181-006-0052-y text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Bartels Robert Econometrics and Business Statistics, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Fiebig Denzil School of Economics, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- van Soest Arthur RAND, Santa Monica, and Tilburg University, Tilburg, The Netherlands aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Empirical Economics Physica-Verlag 31/2(2006-06-01), 369-391 0377-7332 31:2<369 2006 31 181 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer