Interactive online decision aids for complex consumer decisions

It is well recognized that choosing a suitable pension product is an extremely complex task for individuals. Benedict Dellaert (EUR and Netspar) reviews in this Panel Paper recent research on online interactive decisions aids, aiming to explore if these aids may be used to help consumers in overcoming the complexity of pension decisions. In particular he addresses two important types of online technologies: preference formation tools and product selection tools. His conclusions are based on a detailed description of the different technologies, and an analysis of the specific challenges that consumers face in making pension product decisions.