This paper studies the joint role of subsidization and group discussion intervention in increasing the demand for sanitary pads—a product that is widely available but demand for which may be curtailed due to the psychological cost associated with menstrual stigmatization. The study deploys a field experiment in Nepal to randomly allocate discount coupons of various values so that participants face exogenous variation in the effective price of sanitary pads. In addition, a randomly selected group of women in the sample participate in menstrual-health-related group discussion intervention. The findings suggest that an increase in subsidy level increases the probability of adoption across both groups of women—those receiving only a subsidy and those participating in the discussion intervention coupled with a subsidy. Also, women participating in the discussion intervention have a higher adoption rate. The effects of group discussion intervention are concentrated among women with high psychological cost, whose purchase decisions are more likely to be affected by societal stigma. The results suggest that combining a subsidy with group discussion could provide a cost-effective strategy to increase the adoption of health technology, the demand for which is constrained by social norms.

中文翻译：

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补贴和讨论干预对污名化产品需求的综合作用

本文研究了补贴和小组讨论干预在增加卫生巾需求方面的共同作用——卫生巾是一种广泛使用的产品，但由于与月经污名化相关的心理成本，其需求可能会减少。该研究在尼泊尔进行了一项实地实验，随机分配不同价值的折扣券，让参与者面临卫生巾有效价格的外生变化。此外，随机抽取样本中的一组女性参与月经健康相关的小组讨论干预。研究结果表明，补贴水平的提高增加了两组女性（仅接受补贴的女性和参与讨论干预并接受补贴的女性）的收养可能性。还，参与讨论干预的女性采用率较高。小组讨论干预的效果集中在心理成本较高的女性身上，她们的购买决定更容易受到社会耻辱的影响。结果表明，将补贴与小组讨论相结合可以提供一种具有成本效益的策略，以增加卫生技术的采用，而卫生技术的需求受到社会规范的限制。