Put Your Money Where Your Butt Is: A Commitment Contract for Smoking Cessation

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Gine, Xavier; Karlan, Dean; Zinman, Jonathan
• 署名单位: The World Bank; Yale University; Dartmouth College
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-APPLIED ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7782
• DOI: 10.1257/app.2.4.213
• 发表日期: 2010
• 页码: 213-235
• 关键词: self-control; financial incentives; rational addiction; Deposit contracts; randomized-trial; consumption; smokers; procrastination; ECONOMICS

摘要

We designed and tested a voluntary commitment product to help smokers quit smoking. The product (CARES) offered smokers a savings account in which they deposit funds for six months, after which they take a urine test for nicotine and cotinine. If they pass, their money is returned; otherwise, their money is forfeited to charity. Of smokers offered CARES, 11 percent took up, and smokers randomly offered CARES were 3 percentage points more likely to pass the 6-month test than the control group. More importantly, this effect persisted in surprise tests at 12 months, indicating that CARES produced lasting smoking cessation.