IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/kud/kucebi/2415.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Incentives to Vaccinate

Author

Listed:
  • Pol Campos-Mercade

    (Department of Economics, Lund University)

  • Armando N. Meier

    (Department of Economics, University of Basel)

  • Stephan Meier

    (Columbia Business School, Columbia University)

  • Devin Pope

    (Booth School of Business, University of Chicago)

  • Florian H. Schneider

    (Department of Economics, University of Copenhagen)

  • Erik Wengstroem

    (Department of Economics, Lund University)

Abstract

Whether monetary incentives to change behavior work and how they should be structured are fundamental economic questions. We overcome typical data limitations in a large-scale field experiment on vaccination (N = 5; 324) with a unique combination of administrative and survey data. We find that guaranteed incentives of $20 increase uptake by 13 percentage points in the short run and 9 in the long run. Guaranteed incentives are more e ective than lottery-based, prosocial, or individually-targeted incentives, though all boost vaccinations. There are no unintended consequences on future vaccination or heterogeneities based on vaccination attitudes and incentivized economic preferences. Further, administrative data on relatives shows substantial positive spillovers. Our findings demonstrate the great potential of incentives for improving public health and provide guidance on their design.

Suggested Citation

  • Pol Campos-Mercade & Armando N. Meier & Stephan Meier & Devin Pope & Florian H. Schneider & Erik Wengstroem, 2025. "Incentives to Vaccinate," CEBI working paper series 24-15, University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics. The Center for Economic Behavior and Inequality (CEBI).
    • Handle: RePEc:kud:kucebi:2415
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econ.ku.dk/cebi/publikationer/working-papers/CEBI_WP_15-24.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Uri Gneezy & Stephan Meier & Pedro Rey-Biel, 2011. "When and Why Incentives (Don't) Work to Modify Behavior," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 25(4), pages 191-210, Fall.
    2. Raymond M Duch & Adrian Barnett & Maciej Filipek & Javier Espinosa-Brito & Laurence S J Roope & Mara Violato & Philip M Clarke, 2023. "Cash versus lottery video messages: online COVID-19 vaccine incentives experiment," Oxford Open Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 2, pages 9-8.
    3. Michael C Knaus, 2022. "Double machine learning-based programme evaluation under unconfoundedness [Econometric methods for program evaluation]," The Econometrics Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 25(3), pages 602-627.
    4. Marcella Alsan & Owen Garrick & Grant Graziani, 2019. "Does Diversity Matter for Health? Experimental Evidence from Oakland," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 109(12), pages 4071-4111, December.
    5. Florian H. Schneider & Pol Campos-Mercade & Stephan Meier & Devin Pope & Erik Wengström & Armando N. Meier, 2023. "Financial incentives for vaccination do not have negative unintended consequences," Nature, Nature, vol. 613(7944), pages 526-533, January.
    6. Marco Fabbri & Paolo Nicola Barbieri & Maria Bigoni, 2019. "Ride Your Luck! A Field Experiment on Lottery-Based Incentives for Compliance," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(9), pages 4336-4348, September.
    7. Harsha Thirumurthy & Katherine L Milkman & Kevin G Volpp & Alison M Buttenheim & Devin G Pope, 2022. "Association between statewide financial incentive programs and COVID-19 vaccination rates," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(3), pages 1-7, March.
    8. Kai Ruggeri & Friederike Stock & S. Alexander Haslam & Valerio Capraro & Paulo Boggio & Naomi Ellemers & Aleksandra Cichocka & Karen M. Douglas & David G. Rand & Sander Linden & Mina Cikara & Eli J. F, 2024. "A synthesis of evidence for policy from behavioural science during COVID-19," Nature, Nature, vol. 625(7993), pages 134-147, January.
    9. Bronchetti, Erin Todd & Huffman, David B. & Magenheim, Ellen, 2015. "Attention, intentions, and follow-through in preventive health behavior: Field experimental evidence on flu vaccination," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 270-291.
    10. Katherine L. Milkman & Linnea Gandhi & Sean F. Ellis & Heather N. Graci & Dena M. Gromet & Rayyan S. Mobarak & Alison M. Buttenheim & Angela L. Duckworth & Devin Pope & Ala Stanford & Richard Thaler &, 2022. "A citywide experiment testing the impact of geographically targeted, high-pay-off vaccine lotteries," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 6(11), pages 1515-1524, November.
    11. List, John A. & Samek, Anya Savikhin, 2015. "The behavioralist as nutritionist: Leveraging behavioral economics to improve child food choice and consumption," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 135-146.
    12. Lacetera, Nicola & Macis, Mario, 2010. "Do all material incentives for pro-social activities backfire? The response to cash and non-cash incentives for blood donations," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 31(4), pages 738-748, August.
    13. Uri Gneezy & Pedro Rey-Biel, 2014. "On The Relative Efficiency Of Performance Pay And Noncontingent Incentives," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 12(1), pages 62-72, February.
    14. Tobias Cagala & Ulrich Glogowsky & Johannes Rincke & Anthony Strittmatter, 2021. "Optimal Targeting in Fundraising: A Causal Machine-Learning Approach," Papers 2103.10251, arXiv.org, revised Sep 2021.
    15. Damon Jones & David Molitor & Julian Reif, 2024. "Incentives and Habit Formation in Health Screenings: Evidence from the Illinois Workplace Wellness Study," NBER Working Papers 32745, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Pol Campos-Mercade & Armando N. Meier & Stephan Meier & Devin G. Pope & Florian H. Schneider & Erik Wengström, 2024. "Incentives to Vaccinate," NBER Working Papers 32899, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Manuela Angelucci & Silvia Prina & Heather Royer & Anya Samek, 2015. "When Incentives Backfire: Spillover Effects in Food Choice," NBER Working Papers 21481, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Minnich, Aljoscha & Rau, Holger A. & Schlüter, Jan, 2020. "The effects of financial and non-financial incentives on the demand for a sustainable DRT system," University of Göttingen Working Papers in Economics 394, University of Goettingen, Department of Economics.
    4. Xinrui Zhang & Tom Lane, 2022. "The backfiring effects of monetary and gift incentives on Covid-19 vaccination willingness," Discussion Papers 2022-14, The Centre for Decision Research and Experimental Economics, School of Economics, University of Nottingham.
    5. Mortimer, Duncan & Harris, Anthony & Wijnands, Jasper S. & Stevenson, Mark, 2021. "Persistence or reversal? The micro-effects of time-varying financial penalties," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 188(C), pages 72-86.
    6. Christine Exley, 2013. "Incentives for Prosocial Behavior: The Role of Reputations," Discussion Papers 12-022, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research.
    7. Elliott Ash & W. Bentley MacLeod, 2015. "Intrinsic Motivation in Public Service: Theory and Evidence from State Supreme Courts," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 58(4).
    8. John A. List & Anya Samek & Terri Zhu, 2022. "Incentives to Eat Healthily: Evidence from a Grocery Store Field Experiment," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 89(354), pages 489-509, April.
    9. Belot, Michèle & James, Jonathan & Nolen, Patrick, 2016. "Incentives and children's dietary choices: A field experiment in primary schools," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 213-229.
    10. Tom Chang & Mireille Jacobson & Manisha Shah & Rajiv Pramanik & Samir B. Shah, 2021. "Financial Incentives and Other Nudges Do Not Increase COVID-19 Vaccinations among the Vaccine Hesitant," NBER Working Papers 29403, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Blanco, Esther & Haller, Tobias & Walker, James M., 2018. "Provision of environmental public goods: Unconditional and conditional donations from outsiders," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 815-831.
    12. Jie, Yun, 2018. "Prepayment effect: Prepayment with clawback increases task participation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 210-218.
    13. Jakob Alfitian & Dirk Sliwka & Timo Vogelsang, 2021. "When Bonuses Backfire: Evidence from the Workplace," Natural Field Experiments 00725, The Field Experiments Website.
    14. Hoffmann, Manuel & Mosquera, Roberto & Chadi, Adrian, 2019. "Vaccines at Work," VfS Annual Conference 2019 (Leipzig): 30 Years after the Fall of the Berlin Wall - Democracy and Market Economy 203661, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    15. John, Leslie K. & Blunden, Hayley & Milkman, Katherine L. & Foschini, Luca & Tuckfield, Bradford, 2022. "The limits of inconspicuous incentives," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    16. Kast, Felipe & Meier, Stephan & Pomeranz, Dina, 2018. "Saving more in groups: Field experimental evidence from Chile," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 275-294.
    17. Ben S. Meiselman & Collin Weigel & Paul J. Ferraro & Mark Masters & Kent D. Messer & Olesya M. Savchenko & Jordan F. Suter, 2022. "Lottery Incentives and Resource Management: Evidence from the Agricultural Data Reporting Incentive Program (AgDRIP)," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 82(4), pages 847-867, August.
    18. Kurz, Verena, 2018. "Nudging to reduce meat consumption: Immediate and persistent effects of an intervention at a university restaurant," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 317-341.
    19. Canoy Marcel & Veld Daan L. in ’t, 2014. "How to Boost the Production of Free Services: In Search of the Holy Referee Grail," Man and the Economy, De Gruyter, vol. 1(1), pages 79-92, June.
    20. Müller, Stephan & Rau, Holger A., 2018. "Motivational crowding out effects in charitable giving: Experimental evidence," University of Göttingen Working Papers in Economics 338, University of Goettingen, Department of Economics.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    incentives; health behavior; social preferences; prosociality; risk preferences; vaccination;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments
    • D01 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Microeconomic Behavior: Underlying Principles
    • D62 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Externalities
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kud:kucebi:2415. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Thomas Hoffmann (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cebkudk.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.