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

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

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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.

December 01, 2010