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Giving and promising gifts: Experimental evidence on reciprocity from the field

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  • Brock, J. Michelle
  • Lange, Andreas
  • Leonard, Kenneth L.

Abstract

We test the value of unconditional non-monetary gifts as a way to improve health worker performance in a low income country health setting. We randomly assigned health workers to different gift treatments within a program that visited health workers, measured performance and encouraged them to provide high quality care for their patients. We show that unconditional non-monetary gifts improve performance by 20 percent over a six-week period, compared to the control group. We compare the impact of the unconditional gift to one in which a gift is offered conditional on meeting a performance target and show that only the unconditional gift results in a statistically significant improvement. This demonstrates that organizations can improve the performance of health workers in the medium term without using financial incentives.

Suggested Citation

  • Brock, J. Michelle & Lange, Andreas & Leonard, Kenneth L., 2018. "Giving and promising gifts: Experimental evidence on reciprocity from the field," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 188-201.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jhecon:v:58:y:2018:i:c:p:188-201
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2018.02.007
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    Cited by:

    1. Ding, Hui & Chen, Yiwei & Yu, Min & Zhong, Jieming & Hu, Ruying & Chen, Xiangyu & Wang, Chunmei & Xie, Kaixu & Eggleston, Karen, 2021. "The Effects of Chronic Disease Management in Primary Health Care: Evidence from Rural China," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    2. Mark E. McGovern & Kobus Herbst & Frank Tanser & Tinofa Mutevedzi & David Canning & Dickman Gareta & Deenan Pillay & Till Bärnighausen, 2016. "Do Gifts Increase Consent to Home-based HIV Testing? A Difference-in-Differences Study in Rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa," CHaRMS Working Papers 16-05, Centre for HeAlth Research at the Management School (CHaRMS).
    3. Kandul, Serhiy & Lanz, Bruno & Reins, Evert, 2023. "Reciprocity and gift exchange in markets for credence goods," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 52-69.
    4. Christiane Bradler & Susanne Neckermann, 2019. "The Magic of the Personal Touch: Field Experimental Evidence on Money and Appreciation as Gifts," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 121(3), pages 1189-1221, July.
    5. Bauhoff,Sebastian Peter Alexander & Kandpal,Eeshani, 2021. "Information, Loss Framing, and Spillovers in Pay-for-Performance Contracts," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9687, The World Bank.
    6. Bradler, Christiane & Neckermann, Susanne, 2016. "The magic of the personal touch: Field experimental evidence on money appreciation as gifts," ZEW Discussion Papers 16-043, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    7. Okeke, Edward N., 2022. "Playing defense? Health care in the era of Covid," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    C93; I1; J41; O1; Gift exchange; Reciprocity; Health care; Field experiment; Tanzania;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments
    • I1 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health
    • J41 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Labor Contracts
    • O1 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development

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