Does Cheap Talk Affect Market Outcomes? Evidence from eBay
研究eBay上卖家关于慈善捐赠的不可验证承诺（廉价谈话）对销售概率和价格的影响，发现廉价谈话降低销售概率但提高成交价，且这种效应在飓风卡特里娜后更明显，买家会避开廉价谈话卖家。
We study cheap talk by firms and responses by their consumers, focusing on unverifiable promises of charitable donations on eBay during 2005–2006. Cheap talk listings have lower sales probabilities but sell at higher prices when successful. The negative relationship between cheap talk and sales is concentrated in the months following Hurricane Katrina, a time when verifiable and unverifiable charity listings increased dramatically. Finally, we show that cheap talk sellers have lower quality ratings than those making verifiable donations. Our results suggest that buyers ( justifiably) avoid cheap talk listings when credible quality signals are available, thus limiting the extent of cheap talk.