“Sweet Lemons”: Illusory Quality, Self-Deceivers, Advertising, and Price
研究发现竞争可能导致低质量广告商从低价高质量非广告商手中夺取市场份额，以验光服务为例，自欺消费者因依赖“虚幻质量”而满意于高价低质产品。
The author's study suggests that competition can lead to low-quality advertisers competing against and gaining market shares from lower-priced, high-quality non-advertisers. Evidence in support of this market outcome comes from optometry, a service that has experienced advertising deregulation over the past two decades. The author discusses various explanations of this outcome, including the possibility that self-deceiving consumers relying on “illusory qualities” believe they can judge product quality as measured by the firm, though they cannot. Thus, those consumers are ultimately satisfied with low-quality products at high prices—“sweet lemons.”