ABSTRACT
Consumers face a great deal of complexity today. Expanding variety, innovation, and changing regulation have made complicated markets like banking, insurance, healthcare, and technology even more challenging to navigate. Rankin (2004) notes substantially rising consumer complaints about banking services and suggests that in considering investments, “decision-making is confusing and stressful (and) customers are often later surprised by the penalties incurred” (see also Scott 2004). Two-thirds of commercial insurance buyers seek “better information on prices and terms being transacted” in the insurance markets (Bradford 2005). Markard and Holt (2003) similarly report that consumers express a significant concern for additional information in energy provider decisions. Likewise, the biggest obstacle to an effective healthcare market “that information on cost and quality are complex, problematic, and often difficult to understand” (Bennett 2009). Finally, a recent Wall Street Journal article highlights the vast complexity of modern-day contracts:
[I]n one recent study, 61 percent of consumers reported that they didn't read all the terms of contracts before agreeing to them. (And those are just the ones who will admit to it.) “Laid edge to edge, they're impossible to stay on top of,” says New York-based plaintiffs' attorney James Denlea. “It would be a full-time job.”
(Sullivan 2012)