BCCP Policy Dialogue
Topic:Consumers & Information - Less is More
From using social networks to buying a car, from pension plans to cancer treatments. Every consumer is confronted with a myriad of decisions daily despite not knowing even a fraction of the relevant information. Therefore, a well trodden path to consumer protection leads to duties to inform consumers before their decisions. Yet too much information can quickly overwhelm consumers' information processing capacities. Professor Omri Ben-Shahar has developed a fundamental criticism of the information approach to consumer protection. It peaks in the hypothesis that information mandates are not only ineffectual, but even useless, if not harmful. We are therefore looking forward to your ample participation in discussing the controversial hypothesis: Consumers and Information – Less is More! For further information, please see the event flyer.
Program
| Time | Description | |
|---|---|---|
| 14:00 | Welcome & Introduction Gerhard Wagner (Humboldt University Berlin) | |
| 14:15 | Duties to Inform as an Instrument of Consumer Policy Gerd Billen (State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection) | |
| 14:45 | More Than You Wanted to Know – The Failure of Mandated Disclosure Omri Ben-Shahar (University of Chicago Law School) | |
| 15:15 | Discussion | |
| 15:45 | Coffee Break | |
| 16:15 | Duties to Inform – The View from Institutional Economics Justus Haucap (Heinrich-Heine-University of Düsseldorf) | |
| 16:35 | Duties to Inform – A Favorite of European Law Eva-Maria Kieninger (University of Würzburg) | |
| 16:55 | Does Information Help? A View from Consumer Research and Policy Lucia Reisch (Copenhagen Business School) | |
| 17:15 | Discussion | |
| 18:00 | Reception |