A New Look at Old Coefficients

For more than 50 years, numerous studies have shown low price–quality correlation coefficients, mostly close to 0.2. That prices fail to function as valid indicators of product quality has been interpreted as informational market failure. This article, however, argues, that, according to the economic theory of price formation, prices are not an indicator of quality, but an indicator of scarcity. This allows the conclusion that workable consumer goods markets, at least as seen from the consumer’s point of view, should be characterized by low or even negative correlation coefficients rather than by strong positive coefficients.