Information Presentation and Consumer Choice : Evidence from Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) Success Rates Reports

How does the presentation of multi-dimensional quality information in public reporting affect consumer responsiveness? This paper addresses this question exploiting an exogenous change of reporting format in the Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) reports by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Compared with the first version of the ART report, the second version highlights the “singleton-birth rate” measure, which is complementary to the “multiple-birth rate” measure reported in the first version. We find that consumers are more likely to choose clinics with a lower multiple-birth rate after the format change, indicating more sensitivity to the highlighted measure. This finding implies that information presentation plays an important role in affecting the effectiveness of public reporting