Psychic vs. Economic Barriers to Vaccine Take-Up : Evidence from a Field Experiment in Nigeria
This paper experimentally evaluates the relative importance of psychic costs of tetanus vaccination compared to monetary costs among women in rural Nigeria. To measure psychic costs, vaccine take-up between two conditions to receive cash incentives...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2018
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/876061519138798752/Psychic-vs-economic-barriers-to-vaccine-take-up-evidence-from-a-field-experiment-in-Nigeria http://hdl.handle.net/10986/29407 |
| Summary: | This paper experimentally evaluates the
relative importance of psychic costs of tetanus vaccination
compared to monetary costs among women in rural Nigeria. To
measure psychic costs, vaccine take-up between two
conditions to receive cash incentives is compared: clinic
attendance vs. vaccine take-up. Because the only difference
between these two conditions is whether a woman was required
to receive a vaccine upon arrival at the clinic, the
difference in clinic attendance between these two groups
captures the psychic costs of vaccination. Contrary to
conventional wisdom, no evidence for significant psychic
costs is found. Priming about disease severity increases the
perceived severity of disease, but not vaccine take-up.
Monetary costs strongly affect vaccination decisions. |
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