Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/193223 
Year of Publication: 
2018
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 11929
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
We assess the willingness to pay (WTP) for eyeglasses in an adult population in rural Burkina Faso using a variant of the Becker-DeGroot-Marschak (BDM) method. We combine the BDM approach with video and deferred payment options to analyze the role of information and liquidity constraints. Furthermore, we exploit variation in reservation and transaction prices to study potential screening and sunk cost effects. Our main results show that, consistent with the over-exclusion perspective documented for essential health products, the willingness to pay for glasses is low, amounting to 20% of the current market price. Information provided through a video raises the willingness to pay for corrective glasses by 16%. In contrast, deferred payment does not affect the willingness to pay. Finally, we find no evidence of screening or sunk cost effects. Overall our results lend support to subsidization of eyeglasses in a resource poor setting.
Subjects: 
eyeglasses
information constraint
liquidity constraint
willingness to pay
Burkina Faso
JEL: 
D11
D12
D83
I15
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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