Asymmetric Demand Response When Prices Increase and Decrease: The Case of Child Health Care

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Iizuka, Toshiaki; Shigeoka, Hitoshi
• 署名单位: University of Tokyo; Simon Fraser University; National Bureau of Economic Research
• 刊物名称: REVIEW OF ECONOMICS AND STATISTICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0034-6535
• DOI: 10.1162/rest_a_01110
• 发表日期: 2023-09
• 页码: 1325-1333
• 关键词: Loss aversion; CHOICE; AGENCY

摘要

This study tests whether demand responds symmetrically to price increases and decreases-a seemingly obvious proposition under conventional demand theory that has not been rigorously tested. Exploiting the rapid expansion in Japanese municipal subsidies for child health care in a difference-in-differences framework, we find evidence against conventional demand theory: when coinsurance, our price measure, increases from 0% to 30%, the demand response is more than twice that to a price decrease from 30% to 0%. This result indicates that while economists and policymakers pay little attention, price change direction matters and should be incorporated into welfare analysis.