Information provision and consumer search behavior for products with asymmetric uncertainty

When selling multiple products with asymmetric uncertainty,should the seller disclose product information so that customers do not have to incur any cost to resolve their uncertainties;if so,which product should the seller choose?To address these questions,we consider a monopolist selling two substitutable products to a group of consumers.Each consumer has asymmetric uncertainty regarding the two products.A total of four different information provision structures are considered based on whether the seller discloses information about each product with the aim of determining which strategy provides the seller with the greatest revenue.We derive several interesting results.First,the optimal information provision strategy depends on the magnitude of uncertainty in relation to the product with lower uncertainty.Specifically,if the uncertainty regarding the product with lower uncertainty is sufficiently small,it is optimal for the seller to provide information about the product with higher uncertainty,otherwise,the seller should provide information about both products.Second,when only one product's information should be revealed,it is optimal for the seller to choose the product with higher uncertainty and charge a higher price.Third,withholding information on both products is never optimal for the seller.Finally,our main model is extended by examining the Mean-Preserving Spread setting,and the robustness of our main results is confirmed.Furthermore,we examine the situation in which a monopolist sells a single product with two main attributes.We find that each of the four information provision strategies can be optimal under various scenarios.

High-quality Health Information Provision for Stroke Patients

Objective： High-quality information provision can allow stroke patients to effectively participate in healthcare decision-making, better manage the stroke, and make a good recovery. In this study, we reviewed information needs of stroke patients, methods for providing infbnllation to patients, and considerations needed by the information providers. Data Sources： The literature concerning or including information provision for patients with stroke in English was collected from PubMed published from 1990 to 2015. Study Selection： We included all the relevant articles on information provision for stroke patients in English, with no limitation of study design. Results： Stroke is a major public health concern worldwide, ttigh-quality and effective health information provision plays an essential role in helping patients to actively take part in decision-making and healthcare, and empowering them to effectively self-managc their long-standing chronic conditions. Different methods for providing information to patients have their relative merits and suitability, and as a result, the effective strategies taken by health professionals may include providing high-quality information, meeting patients＇ individual needs, using suitable methods in providing information, and maintaining active involvement of patients. Conclusions： It is suggested that to enable stroke patients to access high-quality health information, greater efforts need to be made to ensure patients to receive accurate and current evidence-based information which meets their individual needs. Health professionals should use suitable information delivery methods, and actively involve stroke patients in inforrnation provision.