I share a lot of Drew’s skepticism about the study, especially the experimenter demand effects. If monitoring alone is enough to increase productivity, I think it’s quite plausible that there is some further response (beyond a direct effect of the glasses on vision) to monitoring plus the provision of glasses. Even as a large proponent of quantile regression in many applications, I do think OLS is more appropriate for a cost effectiveness analysis. A median shift could be consistent both with a much larger or much smaller (even negative) impact on aggregate utility.
However, I do think the point about glasses as an experience good is a good one and could quite possibly be at play here. If getting glasses for work is not a normal activity, it could be easy to underestimate the benefits of doing so.
Connor makes great points as always, and I appreciate the detailed response and the openness Lauren!
I very much agree with you both that glasses are an experience good and people systematically underestimate the value as their eyesight slowly gets worse. I think it’d be very interesting to study different ways of stimulating demand and generating awareness. I’m especially interested in the free screening model some systems like LV Prasad have adopted.
And to be clear, I would guess that providing reading glasses is cost-effective based on the disability aversion alone. People were very happy to glasses and did benefit from them. I am just skeptical there are many further income benefits beyond that. On that topic, I have finished a first draft of the comment, so hopefully can circulate soon!
I share a lot of Drew’s skepticism about the study, especially the experimenter demand effects. If monitoring alone is enough to increase productivity, I think it’s quite plausible that there is some further response (beyond a direct effect of the glasses on vision) to monitoring plus the provision of glasses. Even as a large proponent of quantile regression in many applications, I do think OLS is more appropriate for a cost effectiveness analysis. A median shift could be consistent both with a much larger or much smaller (even negative) impact on aggregate utility.
However, I do think the point about glasses as an experience good is a good one and could quite possibly be at play here. If getting glasses for work is not a normal activity, it could be easy to underestimate the benefits of doing so.
Connor makes great points as always, and I appreciate the detailed response and the openness Lauren!
I very much agree with you both that glasses are an experience good and people systematically underestimate the value as their eyesight slowly gets worse. I think it’d be very interesting to study different ways of stimulating demand and generating awareness. I’m especially interested in the free screening model some systems like LV Prasad have adopted.
And to be clear, I would guess that providing reading glasses is cost-effective based on the disability aversion alone. People were very happy to glasses and did benefit from them. I am just skeptical there are many further income benefits beyond that. On that topic, I have finished a first draft of the comment, so hopefully can circulate soon!