Packaging of sin goods - Commitment or exploitation?

Christensen, Else Gry Bro und Nafziger, Julia (2016): Packaging of sin goods - Commitment or exploitation? In: Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Vol. 122: pp. 62-74

Abstract

We consider the shopping and consumption decision of an individual with a self-control problem. The consumer believes that restricting the consumption of a sinful product (such as chips) is in his long-run interest. But when facing the actual decision he is tempted to overeat. We ask how firms react to such self-control problems, and possibly exploit them, by offering different package sizes. In a competitive market, either one or three package sizes are offered. In contrast to common intuition, the large, and not the small package might be a commitment device. The latter may serve to exploit the naive consumer. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

• Item Type: Journal article
• Faculties: Economics
• Subjects: 300 Social sciences > 330 Economics
• ISSN: 0167-2681
• Language: English