IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/rwirep/1036.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Subsidies, information, and energy-efficient cookstove adoption: A randomized uncontrolled trial in rural Ethiopia

Author

Listed:
  • Malan, Mandy
  • Voors, Marten
  • Ankel-Peters, Jörg
  • Seje, Selan J.
  • Heuburger, Lotte
  • Seid, Dawud
  • Mitiku, Abiyot

Abstract

Energy-efficient biomass cookstoves (EEBC) are an important technology for the three billion people relying on firewood and charcoal for cooking in the Global South. This paper assesses the price-responsiveness of demand for EEBC and the role of information about health and economic benefits. The pilot program under evaluation randomized different subsidy schemes (40%, 70%, and 100% subsidy) and information treatments across 292 Ethiopian villages. Unlike previous willingness-to-pay studies we examine a take-it-orleave-it approach in an uncontrolled and hence natural setting. We observe that EEBC demand is highly price-sensitive: There is virtually no EEBC uptake in the no-subsidy group, irrespective of which information households received. Yet, uptake increases considerably for households who received a high subsidy (70% or a 100%). Adding information on economic benefits nearly doubles uptake when coupled with such high subsidies. Our results confirm the emerging picture in the literature suggesting that subsidization for EEBC is required to foster widespread adoption.

Suggested Citation

  • Malan, Mandy & Voors, Marten & Ankel-Peters, Jörg & Seje, Selan J. & Heuburger, Lotte & Seid, Dawud & Mitiku, Abiyot, 2023. "Subsidies, information, and energy-efficient cookstove adoption: A randomized uncontrolled trial in rural Ethiopia," Ruhr Economic Papers 1036, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:rwirep:1036
    DOI: 10.4419/96973205
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/277744/1/1860063802.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.4419/96973205?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. James Berry & Greg Fischer & Raymond Guiteras, 2020. "Eliciting and Utilizing Willingness to Pay: Evidence from Field Trials in Northern Ghana," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 128(4), pages 1436-1473.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Daniel Agness & Travis Baseler & Sylvain Chassang & Pascaline Dupas & Erik Snowberg, 2022. "Valuing the Time of the Self-Employed," CESifo Working Paper Series 9567, CESifo.
    2. Bensch, Gunther & Grimm, Michael, 2024. "Behavioural constraints in energy technology uptake: Evidence from real-purchase offers in rural Rwanda and Senegal," Ruhr Economic Papers 1081, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    3. Hoffmann, Bridget, 2018. "Do non-monetary prices target the poor? Evidence from a field experiment in India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 15-32.
    4. Samuel D. Bell & Nadia A. Streletskaya, 2019. "The Random Quantity Mechanism: Laboratory and Field Tests of a Novel Cost-Revealing Procurement Mechanism," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 73(3), pages 899-921, July.
    5. Ricker-Gilbert, Jacob & Moussa, Bokar & Abdoulaye, Tahirou, 2021. "Using Branding to Signal Quality in Informal Markets. Evidence from an Experimental Auction in the Sahel," 2021 Conference, August 17-31, 2021, Virtual 315284, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    6. Naphtal Habiyaremye & Nadhem Mtimet & Emily A. Ouma & Gideon A. Obare, 2023. "Consumers' willingness to pay for safe and quality milk: Evidence from experimental auctions in Rwanda," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 39(4), pages 1049-1074, October.
    7. Koichiro Ito & Shuang Zhang, 2020. "Willingness to Pay for Clean Air: Evidence from Air Purifier Markets in China," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 128(5), pages 1627-1672.
    8. Fischer, Greg & Karlan, Dean & McConnell, Margaret & Raffler, Pia, 2019. "Short-term subsidies and seller type: A health products experiment in Uganda," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 110-124.
    9. Hira Channa & Jacob Ricker‐Gilbert & Hugo De Groote & Jonathan Bauchet, 2021. "Willingness to pay for a new farm technology given risk preferences: Evidence from an experimental auction in Kenya," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 52(5), pages 733-748, September.
    10. Shapiro, Jeremy, 2019. "The impact of recipient choice on aid effectiveness," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 137-149.
    11. Aker, Jenny C. & Dillon, Brian & Welch, C. Jamilah, 2023. "Demand, supply and long-term adoption: Evidence from a storage technology in West Africa," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    12. Angelucci, Manuela & Bennett, Daniel M, 2022. "Depression, Pharmacotherapy, and the Demand for a Novel Health Product," IZA Discussion Papers 15832, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. Jonathan Chapman & Erik Snowberg & Stephanie Wang & Colin Camerer, 2018. "Loss Attitudes in the U.S. Population: Evidence from Dynamically Optimized Sequential Experimentation (DOSE)," NBER Working Papers 25072, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Abhijit Banerjee & Rukmini Banerji & James Berry & Esther Duflo & Harini Kannan & Shobhini Mukerji & Marc Shotland & Michael Walton, 2017. "From Proof of Concept to Scalable Policies: Challenges and Solutions, with an Application," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 31(4), pages 73-102, Fall.
    15. Melissa Hidrobo & Giordano Palloni & Daniel O. Gilligan & Jenny C. Aker & Natasha Ledlie, 2022. "Paying for Digital Information: Assessing Farmers’ Willingness to Pay for a Digital Agriculture and Nutrition Service in Ghana," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 70(4), pages 1367-1402.
    16. Tanner Regan & Martina Manara, 2022. "Ask a local: Improving the public pricing of land titles in urban Tanzania," Working Papers 2022-07, The George Washington University, Institute for International Economic Policy.
    17. Ronayne, David & Sgroi, Daniel & Tuckwell, Anthony, 2021. "Evaluating the sunk cost effect," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 186(C), pages 318-327.
    18. Giulia Buccione & Martín Rossi, 2023. "Incorporating Cultural Context into Safe-Water Interventions: Experimental Evidence from Egypt," Working Papers 167, Universidad de San Andres, Departamento de Economia, revised Nov 2023.
    19. Yusuke Narita, 2018. "Experiment-as-Market: Incorporating Welfare into Randomized Controlled Trials," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 2127r, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University, revised May 2019.
    20. Jack, B. Kelsey & McDermott, Kathryn & Sautmann, Anja, 2022. "Multiple price lists for willingness to pay elicitation," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Household technology adoption; biomass consumption; randomized controlled trial; humanitarian assistance; environmental degradation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments
    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • O13 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Agriculture; Natural Resources; Environment; Other Primary Products
    • Q41 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Demand and Supply; Prices
    • Q48 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Government Policy

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:zbw:rwirep:1036. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/rwiesde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.