Publications in: Consumer behaviour and protection

Consumer Contracts

Published: February, 2011

The OFT has published the market study on problems consumers have with contracts. To inform the market study London Economics in association with YouGov completed a behavioural survey of consumers combined with an economic experiment to investigate the features of contracts that cause most problems for consumers.

Measuring Consumer Detriment from Postal Quality-Price Misperceptions in France

Published: February, 2011

CCRP workshop, Aston University, Birmingham, February 2011.

Behavioural Economics and the Impact of Price Frames on Consumer Decision Making

Published: November, 2010

European Commission conference on Behavioural Economics, November 22, 2010.

The Functioning of Retail Electricity Markets in the European Union

Published: November, 2010

London Economics, in cooperation with Ipsos, IBF Consulting and CRIOC, were commissioned by the EC DG Health and Consumers (SANCO) to examine the functioning of retail electricity markets in the European Union. Based on consumer surveys, stakeholder surveys and mystery shopping exercises carried out in the 27 Member States, the study shows that, although consumers […]

Consumer Switching Experimental Economics Research

Published: September, 2010

This study completed for Ofcom reports the results of an economic experiment that investigates different features of switching processes for consumers in the market for communication services. The economic experiment tests the impact of two main forms of switching process, Gaining Provider Led Processes (GPLPs) and Losing Provider Led Processes (LPLPs) on a set of […]

The Impact of Price Frames on Consumer Decision Making

Published: May, 2010

London Economics was comissioned by the Office of Fair Trading to undertake a behavioural economics study into how different price frames may impact upon consumer behaviour. The study uses experimental economics to test if consumers incur behavioural biases under five common pricing practices used by firms, including drip pricing and “3 for 2” offers. The […]

Using Experiments in Consumer Research

Published: March, 2010

Ofcom has published the report “Using experiments in consumer research” by London Economics. The work informs Ofcom about how behavioural and experimental economics can assist regulators in understanding consumer behaviour. The research implemented a controlled economic experiment which considered a number of options for improving the understanding of consumers when choosing telecommunication services funded through […]

Study on Consumer Detriment in the Area of Dynamic Packages

Published: November, 2009

In a report published by EC DG Health and Consumers, London Economics has estimated consumer detriment in EU-27 in the area of ‘dynamic travel packages’. A ‘dynamic package’ is a holiday package where different tourist services (flights, car rental, accommodation, excursions etc.) are put together at the same time to fit the specifications of a […]

Evaluation of a Sample of OFT’s Consumer Enforcement Cases

Published: October, 2009

This study for the Office of Fair Trading reviews the effectiveness of six past consumer protection interventions by the OFT. The project carried out six case studies and in each case it identified the sources of consumer detriment and evaluated the reduction in consumer detriment attributable to the interventions of the OFT. The six cases […]

Road Testing of Consumer Remedies

Published: July, 2009

Office of Fair Trading, London, July 9, 2009.