Findings on Healthcare Economics Reported by Investigators at Case Western Reserve University (Can financial incentives help people trying to…

Economics Week

Findings on Healthcare Economics Reported by Investigators at Case Western Reserve University (Can financial incentives help people trying to establish new habits? Experimental evidence with new gym members)

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Economics Week -- New research on Economics - Healthcare Economics is the subject of a report. According to news reporting originating in Cleveland, Ohio, by VerticalNews journalists, research stated, "Can financial incentives aid habit formation in people attempting to establish a positive health behavior? We provide evidence on this question from a randomized controlled trial of modest-sized incentives to attend the gym among new members of a fitness facility. Our experiment randomized 690 participants into a control group that received a $30 payment unconditionally or one of 3 incentive groups that received a payment for attending the gym at least 9 times over the first 6 weeks of membership."

The news reporters obtained a quote from the research from Case Western Reserve University, "Two incentive treatment arms offered monetary payments of $30 and $60. The third incentive treatment, motivated by the endowment effect, offered a physical item worth $30. All three incentives had only small impacts on attendance during members' first 6 weeks and no effect on their post-incentive visit trajectories."

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: "We document substantial overconfidence among new members about their likely visits and discuss how overconfidence may undermine the effectiveness of incentive programs."

For more information on this research see: Can financial incentives help people trying to establish new habits? Experimental evidence with new gym members. Journal of Health Economics, 2018;58():202-214. Journal of Health Economics can be contacted at: Elsevier Science Bv, PO Box 211, 1000 Ae Amsterdam, Netherlands. (Elsevier - www.elsevier.com; Journal of Health Economics - www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-health-economics/)

Our news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained by contacting M. Carrera, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106, United States. Additional authors for this research include H. Royer, M. Stehr and J. Sydnor.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhealeco.2018.02.010. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

Keywords for this news article include: Cleveland, Ohio, United States, North and Central America, Healthcare Economics, Economics, Investment and Finance, Case Western Reserve University.