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Working Paper
| HBS Working Paper Series
| 2013
Understanding the Advice of Commissions-Motivated Agents: Evidence from the Indian Life Insurance Market
by
Santosh Anagol, Shawn Cole and Shayak Sarkar
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Abstract
We conduct a series of field experiments to evaluate the quality of advice provided by life insurance agents in India. Agents overwhelmingly recommend unsuitable, strictly dominated products, which provide high commissions to the agent. Agents cater to the beliefs of uninformed consumers, even when those beliefs are wrong. We test whether regulation or the market can improve advice. A natural experiment requiring disclosure of commissions for a specific product results in agents recommending alternative products with high commissions but no disclosure requirement. Market discipline does generate de-biasing, with agents perceiving greater competition more likely to recommend a suitable product.
Keywords: Customers;
Insurance;
Product;
Service Operations;
Agency Theory;
Sales;
Motivation and Incentives;
Competition;
Value;
Insurance Industry;
India;