Speaker: Manuela Angelucci is an Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan. More »

Abstract: We study the spillover effects of incentives on a choice. We model the spillover as having both positive and negative effects on the choice and then run a field experiment in which we incentivize students’ choices of grapes over cookies. We randomize which child is incentivized, the fraction of children incentivized, and who can observe whether peers' choices are incentivized. We find that, while incentives increase the likelihood of initially choosing grapes, there are both positive and negative non-linear spillover effects. The overall effect of incentives is initially positive but becomes negative when more than 70\% of the group is incentivized.

Last Updated: Apr 16, 2015