ArticleJournal of development economics2018
Subsidies versus mental accounting nudges: Harnessing mobile payment systems to improve sanitation.
Article in Journal of development economics, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed.
- Sanitation marketing in Nigeria.World development · 2025Article
- Improving the health of the rural population in India through bundling WASH practices.Frontiers in health services · 2025Article
- Determinants of Willingness to Pay for Fecal Sludge Management Services and Knowledge Gaps: A Scoping Review.Environmental science & technology · 2024Article
- Privatization of public goods: Evidence from the sanitation sector in Senegal.Journal of development economics · 2023Article
- Willingness to pay for improvements in rural sanitation: Evidence from a cross-sectional survey of three rural counties in Kenya.PloS one · 2021Article
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
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Abstract
The proliferation of mobile money across developing countries has led to an increase in availability of mobile payment systems. This decreases the organizational complexity of allowing more flexible payment terms for customers. We test whether subsidies, deposit requirements, and access to a mobile money savings vehicle increase the propensity of households to purchase an improved but more expensive sanitation service. While high subsidies increase purchases of the improved service, interventions inspired by mental accounting such as deposit requirements and earmarked savings accounts do not. The option to save in earmarked accounts using mobile money caused households to substitute away from purchasing the improved service in the general market and towards purchasing it through our providers, rather than substituting away from the unimproved service. We discuss implications for mental accounting-based policies compared to more traditional subsidies.
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Registered trials
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