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

Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s) Steven D. Levitt; John A. List; Susanne Neckermann; Sally Sadoff

Version: View help for Version V1

Name	File Type	Size	Last Modified
input			12/07/2019 04:10:PM
pdf_output			12/07/2019 04:10:PM
src			12/07/2019 04:10:PM
2013_0358_readme.pdf	application/pdf	95.9 KB	12/07/2019 11:10:AM
run_analysis.do	text/plain	1 KB	12/07/2019 11:10:AM

Project Description

Summary: 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.

Scope of Project

JEL Classification:
      D91 Micro-Based Behavioral Economics: Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making
      H75 State and Local Government: Health; Education; Welfare; Public Pensions
      I21 Analysis of Education
      I28 Education: Government Policy

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Published Versions

V1 [2019-12-07]

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DDI 2.5

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