Put Your Money Where Your Butt Is: A Commitment Contract for Smoking Cessation

Xavier Gine, Dean Karlan and Jonathan Zinman

American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 2010, vol. 2, issue 4, 213-35

Abstract: We designed and tested a voluntary commitment product to help smokers quit smoking. The product (CARES) offered smokers a savings account in which they deposit funds for six months, after which they take a urine test for nicotine and cotinine. If they pass, their money is returned; otherwise, their money is forfeited to charity. Of smokers offered CARES, 11 percent took up, and smokers randomly offered CARES were 3 percentage points more likely to pass the 6-month test than the control group. More importantly, this effect persisted in surprise tests at 12 months, indicating that CARES produced lasting smoking cessation. (JEL D12, I12, O15)

JEL-codes: D12 I12 O15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
Note: DOI: 10.1257/app.2.4.213
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (210)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/app.2.4.213 (application/pdf)
http://www.aeaweb.org/aej/app/data/2009-0213_data.zip (application/zip)
Access to full text is restricted to AEA members and institutional subscribers.

Related works:
Working Paper: Put your money where your butt is: a commitment contract for smoking cessation (2009)
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:aea:aejapp:v:2:y:2010:i:4:p:213-35

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.aeaweb.org/journals/subscriptions

Access Statistics for this article

American Economic Journal: Applied Economics is currently edited by Alexandre Mas

More articles in American Economic Journal: Applied Economics from American Economic Association Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Michael P. Albert ().