Scaling Charitable Incentives: Policy Selection, Beliefs, and Evidence from a Field Experiment

Shusaku Sasaki, Takunori Ishihara and Hirofumi Kurokawa

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Abstract: Why are interventions with weak evidence still adopted? We study charitable incentives for physical activity in Japan using three linked methods, including a randomized field experiment (N=808), a stakeholder belief survey (local government officials and private-sector employees, N=2,400), and a conjoint experiment on policy choice. Financial incentives increase daily steps by about 1,000, whereas charitable incentives deliver a precisely estimated null. Nonetheless, stakeholders greatly overpredict charitable incentives' effects on walking, participation, and prosociality. Conjoint choices show policymakers value step gains as well as other outcomes, shaping policy choice. Adoption thus reflects multidimensional beliefs and objectives, highlighting policy selection as a scaling challenge.

Date: 2025-12
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