Institutional, Sociological and Spatial Factors Influencing Consumer Protection Perceptions in the European Union

The present study assesses through quantitative methods the problems specific to consumer protection. We focused on the factors that influence the number of complaints at national level and the perception of consumers that they are protected by public authorities. Data used for the 27 countries of the European Union were collected by official institutions, such as Heritage Foundations, United Nations Development Programme and the European Commission. Two types of econometric tools were employed: Ordinary Least Squares Multiple Regression and Spatial Econometric methods, such as map analysis, Moran’s I test for spatial autocorrelation and spatial regression. The results are convincing in what regards the institutional factors. Other types of behavior, such as social factors and spatial neighborhood effects, could not be highlighted.