What Can Children Learn from a Free Trial of Eyeglasses Use? Evidence from a Cluster‑Randomized Controlled Trial in Rural China

Abstract

Free trial is a widely used business strategy that takes advantage of information asymmetry. However, evidence on what we can learn and how rapidly we can learn from a free trial of health care is limited. This study evaluates the effect of a free trial of eyeglasses on children’s 8 items of perception related to eyeglasses use. An evaluation was conducted alongside a cluster-randomized controlled trial involved 832 myopic children from northwest rural China. A total of 428 myopic children from 42 schools were randomized to receive free eyeglasses, and 404 myopic children from 42 schools were randomized as control group. We find that the perceived costs and benefits of eyeglasses use and the perceived timing of wearing eyeglasses at the appropriate time can be learned from a free trial of eyeglasses. Compared with the control group in the long run, 5.6 percentage points more children in treatment group agreed that wearing eyeglasses was attractive, 16.5 percentage points more children agreed that wearing eyeglasses is helpful to academic performance, and 7.9 percentage points more children agreed that children with vision problems should wear eyeglasses. Due to the effects of a free product and the time to learning from experience, the magnitude of the impact of a free trial changed over time. We also find that the indirect experience, such as a vision protection course, cannot change children’ perceptions about the cost or benefits of eyeglasses use. The findings imply that children can learn significantly from the experience of a free trial of eyeglasses. A free trial is an effective strategy to solve the information asymmetry problem for health care. The first pair of eyeglasses of children can be one-off subsidized to trigger demand for eyeglasses use.

Effects of Vision Health Education and Free Eyeglasses on Knowledge of Vision and Usage of Spectacles Among Primary School Students: Evidence from Gansu and Shaanxi Provinces in China

“…Subsidized eyeglasses are effective for lowering the costs of purchase, which dramatically increases the uptake of healthcare in the short term. Although a study by Shi et al (2020) has shown that a free trial is an effective strategy to solve the problem of information asymmetry in health care, 27 it takes time to deliver health benefits and change the perceived cost and benefits. When information is paired with subsidized health care (a pair of free eyeglasses), interventions may change the cost and the benefits of a theoretical assumption.…”

“…25 , 26 Through provision of a health product for free, individuals reveal the demand for health products due to the learning effect if they benefit from using the product. 1 , 2 , 27 …”

Myopia and Depression among Middle School Students in China—Is There a Mediating Role for Wearing Eyeglasses?

“…The high prevalence of myopia among school-age children worldwide has attracted concerns about its adverse consequences from scholars, medical professionals and policy-makers [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]. Blurry vision reduces myopic students’ learning efficiency, which may also cause them to lose interest in learning, thereby undermining their school performance.…”