A new approach to an age-old problem: solving externalities by incenting workers directly

Greer Gosnell, John List and Robert Metcalfe ()

No 262, GRI Working Papers from Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment

Abstract: Understanding motivations in the workplace remains of utmost import as economies around the world rely on increases in labor productivity to foster sustainable economic growth. The authors of this paper created a unique opportunity in partnering with Virgin Atlantic Airways to test a role for the monitoring, performance information, personal targets and prosocial incentives on fuel efficiency of their captains. Monitoring and targets were found to induce captains to improve efficiency in all three key flight areas: pre-flight, in-flight and post-flight. The study provided the lowest calculated marginal abatement cost per ton of CO2, at negative $250 (i.e. $250 savings per ton abated). Methodologically, the authors’ approach has implications for climate policy and suggests a new way to combat firm-level externalities: by targeting workers rather than the firm as a whole.

Date: 2017-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ene and nep-env
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.lse.ac.uk/GranthamInstitute/wp-content/ ... 62-Gosnell-et-al.pdf

Related works:
Working Paper: A new approach to an age-old problem: solving externalities by incenting workers directly (2016)
Working Paper: A New Approach to an Age-Old Problem: Solving Externalities by Incenting Workers Directly (2016)
Working Paper: A New Approach to an Age-Old Problem: Solving Externalities by Incenting Workers Directly (2016)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:lsg:lsgwps:wp262

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in GRI Working Papers from Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by The GRI Administration ().