Reputational Incentives for Restaurant Hygiene
研究声誉激励能否促使餐厅保持良好卫生质量，发现连锁加盟提供声誉激励但加盟店会搭便车，而张贴卫生等级卡的政策干预能显著改善卫生。
How can consumers be assured that firms will endeavor to provide good quality when quality is unobservable prior to purchase? We test the hypothesis that reputational incentives are effective at causing restaurants to maintain good hygiene quality. We find that chain affiliation provides reputational incentives and franchised units tend to free-ride on chain reputation. We also show that regional variation in the degree of repeat customers affects the strength of reputational incentives for good hygiene at both chain and nonchain restaurants. Despite these incentives, a policy intervention in the form of posted hygiene grade cards causes significant improvements in restaurant hygiene..