1 论文标题
More Trusting, Less Trust? An Investigation of Early E-Commerce in China
2 作者信息
Hongbin Cai, Ginger Z. Jin, Chong Liu, Li-An Zhou
3 出处和链接（比如，NBER working paper No.11000）
NBER Working Paper No. 18961,Issued in April 2013
4 摘要
Trust is vital for market development, but how can trust be enhanced ina marketplace? A common view is that more trusting may help to buildtrust, especially in less developed economies. In this paper, we arguethat more trusting may lead to less trust. We set up a rationalexpectation model in which a marketplace uses buyer protection topromote buyer trusting. Our results show that buyer protection mayreduce trust in equilibrium and even hinder market expansion because ittriggers differential entry between honest and strategic sellers andmay induce more cheating from strategic sellers. Using a largetransaction-level data set from the early years of Eachnet.com (an eBayequivalent in China), we find evidence that is consistent with themodel predictions. Stronger buyer protection leads to less favorableevaluation of seller behavior and is associated with slower marketexpansion. These findings suggest that a trust-promoting policy aimingat buyer trusting may not be effective if it is not accompanied byadditional incentives to improve seller trustworthiness.