Trust in Health Care Credence Goods : Experimental Evidence on Framing and Subject Pool Effects

Credence goods markets heavily rely on trust on the side of the consumer as well as trustworthiness on the side of the expert. In this paper, we study two determinants of trust and trustworthiness in experimental credence goods markets, namely the effect of a health frame as well as the identity of the expert (being either a standard student subject or a prospective physician). Our results reveal that the identity in combination with a health frame has a significant impact on the level of trust shown by a higher willingness of consumers (patients) to enter the market but no effect on trustworthiness, as measured by the provision and charging behavior of experts