How Do Habits Form? Experimental Evidence from Health Screenings

Damon Jones, David Molitor and Julian Reif

No 32745, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: We develop a framework for distinguishing between two competing mechanisms of habit formation and apply it to a three-year randomized experiment on annual health screenings among 4,799 university employees. Annually re-randomized incentives generate exogenous variation in early, late, and repeated screening, allowing us to test whether habits are strengthened by additional consumption or instead form discretely once consumption crosses a threshold. We find strong habit formation from initial exposure: completing a first screening raised subsequent screening rates by 32.4–36.1 percentage points (90%–111%). In contrast, completing a second screening had no detectable additional effect. Our results reject reinforcement models, including addiction, which predict repeated participation should strengthen the habit, and instead support a threshold model in which a single exposure is sufficient to establish and sustain the habit. Observational estimates imply the opposite conclusion, showing the value of rigorous research design in identifying mechanisms of habit formation.

JEL-codes: H0 I1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-exp and nep-hea
Note: AG EH PE
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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