Can Higher Prices Stimulate Product Use? Evidence from a Field Experiment in Zambia

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Ashraf, Nava; Berry, James; Shapiro, Jesse M.
• 署名单位: Harvard University; Cornell University; University of Chicago
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC REVIEW
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0002-8282
• DOI: 10.1257/aer.100.5.2383
• 发表日期: 2010
• 页码: 2383-2413
• 关键词: DIARRHEA PREVENTION; WATER-TREATMENT; SAFE STORAGE; PSYCHOLOGY; demand; wages

摘要

The controversy over how much to charge for health products in the developing world rests, in part, on whether higher prices can increase use, either by targeting distribution to high-use households (a screening effect), or by stimulating use psychologically through a sunk-cost effect. We develop a methodology for separating these two effects. We implement the methodology in a field experiment in Zambia using door-to-door marketing of a home water purification solution. We find evidence of economically important screening effects. By contrast, we find no consistent evidence of sunk-cost effects. (JEL C93, D12, I11, M31, O12)