Literature Review on Analytical Frameworks

Background Paper to Creating Confident Consumers

May 2003

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Conclusion

While a particular framework should not be adopted at the expense of all other considerations, the following conclusion is suggested.

The goal of consumer policy should be to (a) remove barriers and (b) shape expectations, so that with respect to any particular transaction, consumers receive what they intended and expected.

This goal is derived from the efficiency framework, but is broader in that it gives consumer policy a role in shaping consumer expectations and the process of preference formation, while stopping short of making choices for consumers or judgements about what consumers should want. This goal is supported by an information-based framework that is less wedded to certain premises of the efficiency framework.

In general, consumer policy is an inappropriate vehicle for distributing resources or losses. Such goals are only appropriate in limited and defined circumstances and must still be justifiable in terms of costs, benefits and trade-offs.

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