Why Do Households Forego High Returns from Technology Adoption: Evidence from Improved Cooking Stoves in Burkina Faso

Bensch, Gunther; Grimm, Michael; Peters, Jörg

doi:10.2139/ssrn.2614518

Cited by 23 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 43 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…A number of studies provide evidence for substantial woodfuel reductions as a result of ICS adoption (see Adrianzén 2013; Bensch and Peters 2013, 2015; Rosa et al 2014; Bensch, Grimm, and Peters 2015; Brooks et al 2016; Gebreegziabher et al 2018). In all these studies, the positive findings hinge upon the effective and perceptible improvements of the ICS compared to the baseline stove.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

One‐Off Subsidies and Long‐Run Adoption—Experimental Evidence on Improved Cooking Stoves in Senegal

Bensch¹,

Peters²

2019

American J Agri Economics

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Free technology distribution can be an effective development policy instrument if market-driven adoption is socially inefficient and hampered by affordability constraints. Yet, policy makers often oppose free distribution, arguing that reference dependence lowers the willingness to pay (WTP) and thus hinders market potentials in the long run. For improved cookstoves, this paper studies the WTP six years after a randomized one-time free distribution in 2009. We demonstrate that the cookstoves were intensely used by the treatment group households in the years after randomization until they reached their designated lifetime. Using a real-purchase offer, we find that both treatment and control households reveal a remarkably high WTP in 2015. The estimated confidence interval suggests that we can exclude a substantial negative effect on the treatment group. The policy implication is that one-time free distribution does not necessarily undermine future market establishment, and thus can be an effective policy instrument if rapid dissemination is the objective.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is partly due to those non‐internalized benefits that uptake of ICS is mostly low (Lewis and Pattanayak 2012; Putti et al 2015). Other reasons stretch from cash and credit constraints to high discount rates or intra‐household bargaining patterns (see, e.g., Bensch, Grimm, and Peters 2015; Alem, Hassen, and Köhlin 2018; Levine et al 2018).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

One‐Off Subsidies and Long‐Run Adoption—Experimental Evidence on Improved Cooking Stoves in Senegal

Bensch¹,

Peters²

2019

American J Agri Economics

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Complementing the analysis of SHS adopter characteristics, our paper thereby also contributes to the broader literature on household technology adoption in resource-poor settings. Energy technology adoption has been studied most 6 extensively for improved cookstoves (see the systematic reviews by Rehfuess et al, 2014;Lewis and Pattanayak, 2012), including studies on Burkina Faso (Bensch et al, 2015;Ouedraogo, 2006;Sawadogo, 1989). For off-grid solar products, empirical evidence is sparse.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Are promotion programs needed to establish off-grid solar energy markets? Evidence from rural Burkina Faso

Bensch

Grimm

Huppertz

et al. 2018

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Additionally, dry-cell battery driven LED-lamps have become available in recent years in almost every rural shop and are increasingly used (see Bensch et al 2015). Some households in rural areas even only resort to the lighting that the cooking fire emits.…”

Section: Policy Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This might not be the case for three reasons: First, households certainly do not account for social benefits that materialize elsewhere. These are, for example, reductions in environmental damage caused by non-electrified households who increasingly switch from kerosene to dry-cell batteries for lighting and dispose of batteries inappropriately in pit latrines or nature (see Bensch et al 2015and Lenz et al 2017. Furthermore, solar kit usage might trigger positive spillovers to neighbors who seize the lighting, the radio, or the phone charging opportunity.…”

Section: A Stylized Cost Benefit-analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Demand for Off-Grid Solar Electricity Experimental Evidence from Rwanda

Grimm¹,

Lenz²,

Peters³

et al. 2017

SSRN Journal

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Terms of use: Documents in Demand for Off-Grid Solar Electricity: Experimental Evidence from RwandaDecember 2016 Schaumburg-Lippe-Straße 5-9 53113 Bonn, GermanyPhone: +49-228-3894-0 Email: publications@iza.org www.iza.org IZA -Institute of Labor Economics Discussion PaPer seriesAny opinions expressed in this paper are those of the author(s) and not those of IZA. Research published in this series may include views on policy, but IZA takes no institutional policy positions. The IZA research network is committed to the IZA Guiding Principles of Research Integrity. The IZA Institute of Labor Economics is an independent economic research institute that conducts research in labor economics and offers evidence-based policy advice on labor market issues. Supported by the Deutsche Post Foundation, IZA runs the world's largest network of economists, whose research aims to provide answers to the global labor market challenges of our time. Our key objective is to build bridges between academic research, policymakers and society. IZA Discussion Papers often represent preliminary work and are circulated to encourage discussion. Citation of such a paper should account for its provisional character. A revised version may be available directly from the author. IZA DP No. 10427 Demand for Off-Grid Solar Electricity: Experimental Evidence from RwandaDecember 2016 Michael Grimm University of Passau, Erasmus University Rotterdam and IZA Luciane Lenz RWI Jörg Peters RWI and AMERU, University of the Witwatersrand Maximiliane Sievert RWI AbstrActIZA DP No. 10427 December 2016Demand for Off-Grid Solar Electricity: Experimental Evidence from Rwanda* Providing electricity to the unconnected 1.1 billion people in developing countries is one of the top political priorities of the international community, yet the costs of reaching this objective are very high. The present paper examines whether the objective and the associated costs are justified by the value that target beneficiaries assign to electricity.We provide experimental evidence on the revealed willingness-to-pay (WTP) for three types of off-grid solar electricity devices. Our findings show that households are willing to dedicate a substantial part of their expenditures to electricity. In absolute terms, though, the WTP does not suffice to reach cost-covering prices. Different payment schemes, which we randomized across our sample, do not alter the WTP significantly. If universal electricity access is to be achieved, direct...

show abstract

Why Do Households Forego High Returns from Technology Adoption: Evidence from Improved Cooking Stoves in Burkina Faso

Cited by 23 publications

References 43 publications

One‐Off Subsidies and Long‐Run Adoption—Experimental Evidence on Improved Cooking Stoves in Senegal

One‐Off Subsidies and Long‐Run Adoption—Experimental Evidence on Improved Cooking Stoves in Senegal

Are promotion programs needed to establish off-grid solar energy markets? Evidence from rural Burkina Faso

Demand for Off-Grid Solar Electricity Experimental Evidence from Rwanda

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About