The Behavioralist Goes to School: Leveraging Behavioral Economics to Improve Educational Performance

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Levitt, Steven D.; List, John A.; Neckermann, Susanne; Sadoff, Sally
• 署名单位: University of Chicago; National Bureau of Economic Research; University of Chicago; University of Chicago; University of California System; University of California San Diego
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-ECONOMIC POLICY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7731
• DOI: 10.1257/pol.20130358
• 发表日期: 2016
• 页码: 183-219
• 关键词: delay-discount rates; achievement evidence; financial incentives; monetary incentives; Intrinsic motivation; student-achievement; rewards; IMPACT; progresa; outcomes

摘要

We explore the power of behavioral economics to influence the level of effort exerted by students in a low stakes testing environment. We find a substantial impact on test scores from incentives when the rewards are delivered immediately. There is suggestive evidence that rewards framed as losses outperform those framed as gains. Nonfinancial incentives can be considerably more cost-effective than financial incentives for younger students, but are less effective with older students. All motivating power of incentives vanishes when rewards are handed out with a delay. Our results suggest that the current set of incentives may lead to underinvestment.