Evidence on the Efficacy of School-Based Incentives for Healthy Living

Harold E. Cuffe (1) , William T. Harbaugh (1) , Jason M. Lindo (1) , Giancarlo Musto (2) , Glenn R. Waddell (1)

1 University of Oregon [Eugene]
2 GATE Lyon Saint-Étienne - Groupe d'Analyse et de Théorie Economique Lyon - Saint-Etienne

We analyze the effects of a school-based incentive program on children's exercise habits. The program offers children an opportunity to win prizes if they walk or bike to school during prize periods. We use daily child-level data and individual fixed effects models to measure the impact of the prizes by comparing behavior during prize periods with behavior during non-prize periods. Variation in the timing of prize periods across different schools allows us to estimate models with calendardate fixed effects to control for day-specific attributes, such as weather and proximity to holidays. On average, we find that being in a prize period increases riding behavior by sixteen percent, a large impact given that the prize value is just six cents per participating student. We also find that winning a prize lottery has a positive impact on ridership over subsequent weeks; consider heterogeneity across prize type, gender, age, and calendar month; and explore differential effects on the intensive versus extensive margins.

Mots clés: health; exercise; children; school; incentives; active commuting

Domaines: Economies et finances

Harold E. Cuffe, William T. Harbaugh, Jason M. Lindo, Giancarlo Musto, Glenn R. Waddell. Evidence on the Efficacy of School-Based Incentives for Healthy Living. 2011. ⟨halshs-00654850⟩