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Mitigating Choice Overload: An Experiment in the U.S. Beer Market

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 November 2018

Trey Malone  and
Jayson L. Lusk
Trey Malone
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics, Michigan State University, 446 W. Circle, Dr., Morrill Hall of Agriculture, East Lansing, MI 48824; e-mail: tmalone@msu.edu.
Jayson L. Lusk
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University, 403 W. State St, West Lafayette, IN 47907-2056; e-mail: jlusk@purdue.edu.
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Abstract

This study tests the prevalence of choice overload (CO) in the U.S. beer market. We reveal that even if CO exists, sellers have mechanisms to reduce CO's negative consequences. The article describes the implementation of search cost-reducing private nudges (i.e., product quality scores and prominently listed specials) sellers commonly utilize to minimize CO's negative consequences. Our results suggest that, while CO exists for some buyers, it can be eliminated by market interactions on the part of the seller. (JEL Classifications: C93, D03, Q13)

Keywords

choice overloadcraft beersearch costs
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Wine Economics , Volume 14 , Issue 1 , February 2019 , pp. 48 - 70
Copyright
Copyright © American Association of Wine Economists 2018 

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Footnotes

The authors would like to thank an anonymous referee and the editor for their constructive comments. All remaining errors are the responsibility of the authors.

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