Consumer Literacy for Credence Services: Helping the Invisible Hand

The intrinsic problem of credence services is that, by definition, even after purchase and consumption experience, the consumer is unable to assess the quality of what was bought. While economic theory defines this category of offerings, it also provides advocates with a way to adequately deal with such services. Existing literature maintains that to increase consumer literacy for credence services, consumers need access to current, unbiased, credible, self-directed information. This commentary furthers the notion that government-sponsored websites and search engines can help consumers gather necessary information to make critical decisions.