Paying Attention to Technology Innovations : Experimental Evidence from Renewable Energy Markets in Africa

This paper presents results from a randomized field experiment that examined the effects of mass media campaigns informing about a new technology on the adoption decisions of households in rural Senegal. While some communities were exposed to a cam...

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Main Authors:	Coville, Aidan, Orozco, Victor, Reichert, Arndt
Format:	Working Paper
Language:	English
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2020
Subjects:	SOLAR LAMPS ELECTRICITY RENEWABLE ENERGY TECHNOLOGY ADOPTION SOLAR ENERGY
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/775391595416030626/Paying-Attention-to-Technology-Innovations-Experimental-Evidence-from-Renewable-Energy-Markets-in-Africa http://hdl.handle.net/10986/34339

id	okr-10986-34339
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	okr-10986-343392021-05-25T09:55:23Z Paying Attention to Technology Innovations : Experimental Evidence from Renewable Energy Markets in Africa Coville, Aidan Orozco, Victor Reichert, Arndt SOLAR LAMPS ELECTRICITY RENEWABLE ENERGY TECHNOLOGY ADOPTION SOLAR ENERGY This paper presents results from a randomized field experiment that examined the effects of mass media campaigns informing about a new technology on the adoption decisions of households in rural Senegal. While some communities were exposed to a campaign broadcasted on national radio that informed households about the general benefits and quality of solar lamps, other communities were exposed to the same radio campaign complemented with information that singled out the most suitable lamp type for all main technological applications. The authors exploit the difference between the two campaigns to examine the extent to which certain information characteristics matter for the uptake of the technological innovation. Results from our experiment show that information on optimal lamp types was required to increase adoption of solar lamps on the extensive margin (more people investing in lamps). However, the type-unspecific information increased adoption on the intensive margin (existing users investing in more lamps). These findings can be explained by a simple learning model of selective attention that the authors adjusted to the study setting, where households engage in home production and spend time as well as mental energy to learn about technological features that maximize returns. 2020-08-12T15:17:13Z 2020-08-12T15:17:13Z 2019-05-15 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/775391595416030626/Paying-Attention-to-Technology-Innovations-Experimental-Evidence-from-Renewable-Energy-Markets-in-Africa http://hdl.handle.net/10986/34339 English CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Economic & Sector Work Economic & Sector Work :: Other Rural Study Africa Senegal
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
language	English
topic	SOLAR LAMPS ELECTRICITY RENEWABLE ENERGY TECHNOLOGY ADOPTION SOLAR ENERGY
spellingShingle	SOLAR LAMPS ELECTRICITY RENEWABLE ENERGY TECHNOLOGY ADOPTION SOLAR ENERGY Coville, Aidan Orozco, Victor Reichert, Arndt Paying Attention to Technology Innovations : Experimental Evidence from Renewable Energy Markets in Africa
geographic_facet	Africa Senegal
description	This paper presents results from a randomized field experiment that examined the effects of mass media campaigns informing about a new technology on the adoption decisions of households in rural Senegal. While some communities were exposed to a campaign broadcasted on national radio that informed households about the general benefits and quality of solar lamps, other communities were exposed to the same radio campaign complemented with information that singled out the most suitable lamp type for all main technological applications. The authors exploit the difference between the two campaigns to examine the extent to which certain information characteristics matter for the uptake of the technological innovation. Results from our experiment show that information on optimal lamp types was required to increase adoption of solar lamps on the extensive margin (more people investing in lamps). However, the type-unspecific information increased adoption on the intensive margin (existing users investing in more lamps). These findings can be explained by a simple learning model of selective attention that the authors adjusted to the study setting, where households engage in home production and spend time as well as mental energy to learn about technological features that maximize returns.
format	Working Paper
author	Coville, Aidan Orozco, Victor Reichert, Arndt
author_facet	Coville, Aidan Orozco, Victor Reichert, Arndt
author_sort	Coville, Aidan
title	Paying Attention to Technology Innovations : Experimental Evidence from Renewable Energy Markets in Africa
title_short	Paying Attention to Technology Innovations : Experimental Evidence from Renewable Energy Markets in Africa
title_full	Paying Attention to Technology Innovations : Experimental Evidence from Renewable Energy Markets in Africa
title_fullStr	Paying Attention to Technology Innovations : Experimental Evidence from Renewable Energy Markets in Africa
title_full_unstemmed	Paying Attention to Technology Innovations : Experimental Evidence from Renewable Energy Markets in Africa
title_sort	paying attention to technology innovations : experimental evidence from renewable energy markets in africa
publisher	World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate	2020
url	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/775391595416030626/Paying-Attention-to-Technology-Innovations-Experimental-Evidence-from-Renewable-Energy-Markets-in-Africa http://hdl.handle.net/10986/34339
_version_	1764480691565756416

Paying Attention to Technology Innovations : Experimental Evidence from Renewable Energy Markets in Africa

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