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on Nudge and Boosting |
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Issue of 2024‒11‒18
two papers chosen by Marco Novarese, Università degli Studi del Piemonte Orientale |
| By: | Pol Campos-Mercade; Armando N. Meier; Stephan Meier; Devin Pope; Florian H. Schneider; Erik Wengström |
| Abstract: | Whether monetary incentives to change behavior work and how they should be structured are fundamental economic questions. We overcome typical data limitations in a large-scale field experiment on vaccination (N = 5, 324) with a unique combi-nation of administrative and survey data. We find that guaranteed incentives of $20 increase uptake by 13 percentage points in the short run and 9 in the long run. Guaranteed incentives are more effective than lottery-based, prosocial, or individually-targeted incentives, though all boost vaccinations. There are no unintended consequences on future vaccination or heterogeneities based on vaccination attitudes and incentivized economic preferences. Further, administrative data on relatives shows substantial positive spillovers. Our findings demonstrate the great potential of incentives for improving public health and provide guidance on their design. |
| Keywords: | incentives, health behaviour, social preferences, prosociality, risk preferences, vaccination |
| JEL: | C93 D01 D62 I12 I18 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11379 |
| By: | Gold, Natalie; Cornel, Pieter; Zhuo, Shi; Thornton, Katie; Riddle, Rupert; McPhedran, Robert |
| Abstract: | Free samples and loyalty cards are frequently used, but there is little rigorous empirical testing of their effects. We conducted a stepped wedge trial in 29 workplace food outlets to investigate their effects on sales of plant-based meals. Outlets were randomly assigned to three sequences that entered the intervention in the first, second, or third week of August 2022. Free samples of plant-based meals were given out in the first week of the intervention; loyalty cards were available throughout, entitling the bearer to a free meal after they had bought three. The intervention period ended in the last week of August for all outlets. The free meal could be redeemed until one month later. We did not find statistically significant effects of the interventions compared to the baseline period. Our process evaluation indicated that many participants preferred to eat their habitual meal or were unaware of the loyalty cards. |
| Keywords: | behavioural economics; consumer behaviour; field experiments; food businesses; out-of-home food sector; sales promotions |
| JEL: | L81 |
| Date: | 2024–09–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:124459 |