This paper reports marketplace developments for consumer-driven health plans in spring 2002. Findings are from interviews with executives from start-up and health insurance firms, benefit consultants, employee benefit managers, Wall Street analysts, consumer organizations, thought leaders, and policymakers. We detail available evidence about the performance of consumer-driven health plans conce...

This paper examines the equilibrium degree of flexibility adopted by firms competing in oligopolistic product markets in which the value of flexibility arises from the initial presence of uncertainty over consumer preferences and its eventual resolution. The equilibrium choice of flexible mode depends on ( ) the following factors: 1 the cost of switching product design in response to ( ) reveal...

I present a model for consumer boycotts. The more a firm complies with consumers’ wishes, the higher its marginal cost, but the lower the probability of facing a consumer boycott. I show that the threat of a consumer boycott can increase the expected profits of firms. Firms lose out when they do face a boycott, but gain even more when their competitor does, giving them more market power. The st...

During the last years the number of available low-cost digital consumer cameras has significantly increased while their prices decrease. Therefore for many applications with no high-end accuracy requirements it is an important consideration whether to use low-cost cameras. This paper investigates in the use of consumer cameras for photogrammetric measurements and vision systems. An important as...

A consumer-driven health plan (CDHP), also known as a consumer-directed health plan, is a health insurance plan design increasingly prevalent in the United States. CDHPs are a specific type of high-deductible health plan generally including a health savings account (HSA) or a health reimbursement arrangement (HRA). Compared to traditional commercial health plans—such as a health maintenance org...

This paper explores how lowering consumer search costs based on labeling formats affects the probability of choosing healthy foods. We propose a theoretical model of the links between information costs and consumer choices of healthy foods and empirically test the ensuing propositions with scanner data from ready-to-eat breakfast cereals (RTEC). Based on a natural experiment with changes in lab...

This research investigates the influence of computerized search engines on consumer decision making in the electronic commerce environment. The results indicate that by providing well-designed decision aids to consumers, it is possible to significantly increase consumer confidence, satisfaction, and decision quality. Consumers who have access to query-based decision aids perceive increased cost...

with the development of restructured power systems and increase of prices in some hours of day and increase fuel price, demand response programs were noticed more by customers. demand response consists of a series of activities that governments or utilities design to change the amount or time of electric energy consumption, to achieve better social welfare or some times for maximizing the benef...

OBJECTIVES To evaluate the effect of consumer cost sharing on use of physician-administered and patient self-administered specialty drugs for rheumatoid arthritis. DESIGN Multivariate statistical analysis of probability and use of physician-administered specialty drugs, patient self-injected specialty drugs, non-biologic disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs, and symptom relief drugs. Analys...