Misattribution prevents learning
In many markets, consumers believe things about products that are not true. We study how incorrect beliefs about product quality can persist even after a consumer has used a product many times. We explore the example of fertilizer in East Africa. Farmers believe much local fertilizer is counterfeit...
| Autores principales: | , , , |
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| Formato: | Journal Article |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés |
| Publicado: |
Wiley
2024
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| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/140521 |
| _version_ | 1855516785261936640 |
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| author | Hoel, J.B. Michelson, H. Norton, B. Manyong, V. |
| author_browse | Hoel, J.B. Manyong, V. Michelson, H. Norton, B. |
| author_facet | Hoel, J.B. Michelson, H. Norton, B. Manyong, V. |
| author_sort | Hoel, J.B. |
| collection | Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace) |
| description | In many markets, consumers believe things about products that are not true. We study how incorrect beliefs about product quality can persist even after a consumer has used a product many times. We explore the example of fertilizer in East Africa. Farmers believe much local fertilizer is counterfeit or adulterated; however, multiple studies have established that nearly all fertilizer in the area is good quality. We develop a learning model to explain how these incorrect beliefs persist. We show that when the distributions of outcomes using good and bad quality products overlap, agents can misattribute bad luck or bad management to bad quality. Our learning model and its simulations show that the presence of misattribution inhibits learning about quality and that goods like fertilizer with unobservable quality that are inputs into production processes characterized by stochasticity should be thought of as credence goods, not experience goods. Our results suggest that policy makers should pursue quality
assurance programs for products that are vulnerable to misattribution. |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | CGSpace140521 |
| institution | CGIAR Consortium |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2024 |
| publishDateRange | 2024 |
| publishDateSort | 2024 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| publisherStr | Wiley |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | CGSpace1405212025-11-11T10:05:21Z Misattribution prevents learning Hoel, J.B. Michelson, H. Norton, B. Manyong, V. east africa fertilizers quality learning In many markets, consumers believe things about products that are not true. We study how incorrect beliefs about product quality can persist even after a consumer has used a product many times. We explore the example of fertilizer in East Africa. Farmers believe much local fertilizer is counterfeit or adulterated; however, multiple studies have established that nearly all fertilizer in the area is good quality. We develop a learning model to explain how these incorrect beliefs persist. We show that when the distributions of outcomes using good and bad quality products overlap, agents can misattribute bad luck or bad management to bad quality. Our learning model and its simulations show that the presence of misattribution inhibits learning about quality and that goods like fertilizer with unobservable quality that are inputs into production processes characterized by stochasticity should be thought of as credence goods, not experience goods. Our results suggest that policy makers should pursue quality assurance programs for products that are vulnerable to misattribution. 2024-10 2024-03-20T11:11:51Z 2024-03-20T11:11:51Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/140521 en Open Access application/pdf Wiley Hoel, J.B., Michelson, H., Norton, B. & Manyong, V. (2024). Misattribution prevents learning. American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 1-24. |
| spellingShingle | east africa fertilizers quality learning Hoel, J.B. Michelson, H. Norton, B. Manyong, V. Misattribution prevents learning |
| title | Misattribution prevents learning |
| title_full | Misattribution prevents learning |
| title_fullStr | Misattribution prevents learning |
| title_full_unstemmed | Misattribution prevents learning |
| title_short | Misattribution prevents learning |
| title_sort | misattribution prevents learning |
| topic | east africa fertilizers quality learning |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/140521 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT hoeljb misattributionpreventslearning AT michelsonh misattributionpreventslearning AT nortonb misattributionpreventslearning AT manyongv misattributionpreventslearning |