Pricing and Access: Lessons from Randomized Evaluations in Education and Health
45 Pages Posted: 17 Apr 2009
Date Written: January 5, 2009
Abstract
This paper surveys evidence from recent randomized evaluations in developing countries on the impact of price on access to health and education. The debate on user fees has been contentious, but until recently much of the evidence was anecdotal. Randomized evaluations across a variety of settings suggest prices have a large impact on take-up of education and health products and services. While the sign of this effect is consistent with standard theories of human capital investment, a more detailed examination of the data suggests that it may be important to go beyond these models. There is some evidence for peer effects, which implies that for some goods the aggregate response to price will exceed the individual response. Time-inconsistent preferences could potentially help explain the apparently disproportionate effect of small short-run costs and benefits on decisions with long-run consequences.
Keywords: access to health, access to education, human capital investment
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?
Recommended Papers
-
Vouchers for Private Schooling in Colombia: Evidence from a Randomized Natural Experiment
By Joshua D. Angrist, Eric Bettinger, ...
-
Remedying Education: Evidence from Two Randomized Experiments in India
By Shawn Allen Cole, Abhijit V. Banerjee, ...
-
Remedying Education: Evidence from Two Randomized Experiments in India
By Abhijit V. Banerjee, Esther Duflo, ...
-
By Michael Kremer, Edward Miguel, ...
-
By Michael Kremer, Edward Miguel, ...
-
By Michael Kremer, Edward Miguel, ...
-
Using Randomization in Development Economics Research: A Toolkit
By Esther Duflo, Rachel Glennerster, ...
-
Using Randomization in Development Economics Research: A Toolkit
By Esther Duflo, Rachel Glennerster, ...
-
Using Randomization in Development Economics Research: A Toolkit
By Esther Duflo, Rachel Glennerster, ...
-
Monitoring Works: Getting Teachers to Come to School
By Esther Duflo and Rema Hanna