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When and Why Incentives (Don't) Work to Modify Behavior

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Gneezy, Uri, Meier, Stephan, Rey-Biel, Pedro·2011·Journal of Economic Perspectives

Abstract

First we discuss how extrinsic incentives may come into conflict with other motivations. For example, monetary incentives from principals may change how tasks are perceived by agents, with negative effects on behavior. In other cases, incentives might have the desired effects in the short term, but they still weaken intrinsic motivations. To put it in concrete terms, an incentive for a child to learn to read might achieve that goal in the short term, but then be counterproductive as an incentive for students to enjoy reading and seek it out over their lifetimes. Next we examine the research literature on three important examples in which monetary incentives have been used in a nonemployment context to foster the desired behavior: education; increasing contributions to public goods; and helping people change their lifestyles, particularly with regard to smoking and exercise. The conclusion sums up some lessons on when extrinsic incentives are more or less likely to alter such behaviors in the desired directions.

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Metadata

Authors
Gneezy, U., Meier, S., & Rey-Biel, P.
Venue
Journal of Economic Perspectives
Published
2011-11-01
Volume
25
Issue
4
Pages
191-210
ISSN
0895-3309 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2146868725
Cited by
1,735
References
12
FWCI
129.74
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
hybrid

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CoChat. (2026). Citation check: When and Why Incentives (Don't) Work to Modify Behavior. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1257/jep.25.4.191
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Gneezy, U., Meier, S., & Rey-Biel, P. (2011). When and Why Incentives (Don't) Work to Modify Behavior. Journal of Economic Perspectives. https://doi.org/10.1257/jep.25.4.191

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