Information presentation and firm response: Evidence from fertility clinics

Behavioral economists have documented the existence of information-processing biases in consumer behavior, yet relatively few studies have examined firms’ responses to information presentation in public reporting. This paper investigates how fertility clinics in the U.S. respond to an exogenous change in the reporting format of Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) Success Rates reports, which disclose clinic-specific quality information to the public. We find that a new format that highlights the “singleton-birth rate” quality dimension is associated with a lower number of embryos transferred by fertility clinics, and this effect is stronger among clinics facing local competition. This finding implies that properly presenting quality information in public reporting is important to ensure quality improvement.