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To Charge or Not to Charge: Evidence from a Health Products Experiment in Uganda

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Listed:
  • Fischer, Greg

    (London School of Economics and Political Science)

  • Karlan, Dean

    (Yale University and Innovations for Poverty Action)

  • McConnell, Margaret

    (Harvard University)

  • Raffler, Pia

    (Yale University)

Abstract

In a field experiment in Uganda, we find that demand after a free distribution of three health products is lower than after a sale distribution. This contrasts with work on insecticide-treated bed nets, highlighting the importance of product characteristics in determining pricing policy. We put forward a model to illustrate the potential tension between two important factors, learning and anchoring, and then test this model with three products selected specifically for their variation in the scope for learning. We find the rank order of shifts in demand matches with the theoretical prediction, although the differences are not statistically significant.

Suggested Citation

  • Fischer, Greg & Karlan, Dean & McConnell, Margaret & Raffler, Pia, 2014. "To Charge or Not to Charge: Evidence from a Health Products Experiment in Uganda," Working Papers 133, Yale University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:ecl:yaleco:133
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    Cited by:

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    2. Angelucci, Manuela & Prina, Silvia & Royer, Heather & Samek, Anya, 2015. "When Incentives Backfire: Spillover Effects in Food Choice," IZA Discussion Papers 9288, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Paulina Oliva & B. Kelsey Jack & Samuel Bell & Elizabeth Mettetal & Christopher Severen, 2020. "Technology Adoption under Uncertainty: Take-Up and Subsequent Investment in Zambia," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 102(3), pages 617-632, July.
    4. Guan, Hongyu & Zhao, Jin & Liu, Wenting & Shi, Yaojiang, 2023. "Impact of subsidized distribution on follow-up uptake of vision health services for rural students: A field experiment in China," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    5. Wang, H. & Guan, H. & Boswell, M., 2018. "Health Seeking Behavior among Rural Left-behind Children: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial in China," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 276955, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    6. Takahashi, Kazushi & Ikegami, Munenobu & Sheahan, Megan & Barrett, Christopher B., 2014. "Quasi-experimental evidence on the drivers of index-based livestock insurance demand in Southern Ethiopia," IDE Discussion Papers 480, Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization(JETRO).
    7. Grimm, Michael & Hartwig, Renate, 2018. "Unblurring the Market for Vision Correction: A Willingness to Pay Experiment in Rural Burkina Faso," IZA Discussion Papers 11929, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Pascaline Dupas & Edward Miguel, 2016. "Impacts and Determinants of Health Levels in Low-Income Countries," NBER Working Papers 22235, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Anja Sautmann & Samuel Brown & Mark Dean, 2016. "Subsidies, Information, and the Timing of Children's Health Care in Mali," CESifo Working Paper Series 6057, CESifo.
    10. Camille Boudot‐Reddy & Anita Mukherjee, 2021. "Improving the adoption of household health products: A sales experiment with chlorine tablets," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(3), pages 623-641, March.
    11. Sean Sylvia & Xiaochen Ma & Yaojiang Shi & Scott Rozelle & C. -Y. Cynthia Lin Lawell, 2018. "Ordeal Mechanisms, Information, and the Cost-Effectiveness of Subsidies: Evidence from Subsidized Eyeglasses in Rural China," Papers 1812.00383, arXiv.org.
    12. Hongyu Guan & Huan Wang & Juerong Huang & Kang Du & Jin Zhao & Matthew Boswell & Yaojiang Shi & Mony Iyer & Scott Rozelle, 2018. "Health Seeking Behavior among Rural Left-Behind Children: Evidence from Shaanxi and Gansu Provinces in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-19, April.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D11 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Theory
    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
    • I11 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Analysis of Health Care Markets
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development

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