Abstract: EconometricaVolume 77, Issue 3 p. 909-931 Incentives to Exercise Gary Charness, Gary Charness Dept. of Economics, University of California at Santa Barbara, 2127 North Hall, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9210, U.S.A.; [email protected]Search for more papers by this authorUri Gneezy, Uri Gneezy Rady School of Management, University of California at San Diego, Otterson Hall, 9500 Gilman Dr., #0553, La Jolla, CA 92093-0553, U.S.A.; [email protected] We acknowledge helpful comments from Yan Chen, Martin Dufwenberg, Guillaume Fréchette, Jacob Goeree, Ulrike Malmendier, Uri Simonsohn, and Priscilla Williams, as well as seminar audiences at the Stanford Institute of Theoretical Economics, the Santa Barbara Conference on Communication and Incentives, the ESA meeting in Tucson, the ESA meeting in Lyon, CIDE in Mexico City, and Harvard University. Special thanks go to a co-editor and three anonymous referees, who suggested the second study with the biological measures reported in the paper. Charness and Gneezy each acknowledge support from the National Science Foundation.Search for more papers by this author Gary Charness, Gary Charness Dept. of Economics, University of California at Santa Barbara, 2127 North Hall, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9210, U.S.A.; [email protected]Search for more papers by this authorUri Gneezy, Uri Gneezy Rady School of Management, University of California at San Diego, Otterson Hall, 9500 Gilman Dr., #0553, La Jolla, CA 92093-0553, U.S.A.; [email protected] We acknowledge helpful comments from Yan Chen, Martin Dufwenberg, Guillaume Fréchette, Jacob Goeree, Ulrike Malmendier, Uri Simonsohn, and Priscilla Williams, as well as seminar audiences at the Stanford Institute of Theoretical Economics, the Santa Barbara Conference on Communication and Incentives, the ESA meeting in Tucson, the ESA meeting in Lyon, CIDE in Mexico City, and Harvard University. Special thanks go to a co-editor and three anonymous referees, who suggested the second study with the biological measures reported in the paper. Charness and Gneezy each acknowledge support from the National Science Foundation.Search for more papers by this author First published: 21 May 2009 https://doi.org/10.3982/ECTA7416Citations: 382 AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Abstract Can incentives be effective in encouraging the development of good habits? We investigate the post-intervention effects of paying people to attend a gym a number of times during one month. In two studies we find marked attendance increases after the intervention relative to attendance changes for the respective control groups. This is entirely driven by people who did not previously attend the gym on a regular basis. In our second study, we find improvements on health indicators such as weight, waist size, and pulse rate, suggesting the intervention led to a net increase in total physical activity rather than to a substitution away from nonincentivized ones. We argue that there is scope for financial intervention in habit formation, particularly in the area of health. Citing Literature Volume77, Issue3May 2009Pages 909-931 RelatedInformation
Publication Year: 2009
Publication Date: 2009-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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Cited By Count: 606
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