@article{Bensch:256217,
      recid = {256217},
      author = {Bensch, Gunther  and Peters, Jörg },
      title = {One-off subsidies and long-run adoption – Experimental  evidence on improved cooking stoves in Senegal},
      address = {2017-04-04},
      number = {1546-2017-145},
      series = {ISSN: 1436-9931},
      pages = {32},
      year = {2017},
      abstract = {Free distribution of a technology can be an effective  development policy instrument if its adoption is socially  inefficient and hampered by affordability constraints.  Improved cookstoves may be such a case: they generate high  environmental and public health returns, but adoption is  generally low. Based on a randomized controlled trial in  rural Senegal, this paper studies whether one-time free  cookstove distribution affects households’ willingness to  pay (WTP) in the long run. Effects might be negative  because people anchor their WTP on the earlier zero price  (reference dependence) or positive because information  deficits about potential benefits are overcome. We find  that households who received a free stove six years back  exhibit a higher WTP today compared to control households.  Potential reference dependence effects are thus at least  compensated by learning effects. Our findings suggest that  one-time free distribution does not spoil future prices and  might even be a stepping stone for future market  establishment.},
      url = {http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/256217},
      doi = {https://doi.org/10.22004/ag.econ.256217},
}