Verbraucherschutz als Staatsaufgabe

This articles reviews the arguments for consumer protection policies by the government by referring to the Nobel prices on asymmetric information problems. It discusses criteria for assessing the empirical importance of lemons goods and comments on the relative merits of quality constraints and the provision of information. Particular emphasis is placed on the question of whether consumer protection policies could survive unbridled systems competition among the EU countries, and a negative answer is provided. To counteract such an outcome, a national policy of monitoring, assessing and publishing product qualities is recommended. Copyright Verein für Socialpolitik und Blackwell Publishers Ltd, 2003