MONETARY INCENTIVES AND STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT IN A DEPRESSED LABOUR MARKET: RESULTS FROM A RANDOMIZED EXPERIMENT

Maria De Paola (), Vincenzo Scoppa () and Rosanna Nisticò ()
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Rosanna Nisticò: Dipartimento di Economia e Statistica, Università della Calabria

No 201006, Working Papers from Università della Calabria, Dipartimento di Economia, Statistica e Finanza "Giovanni Anania" - DESF

Abstract: In this paper we carry out an evaluation of the effectiveness of monetary incentives in enhancing student performance using a randomized experiment involving undergraduate students enrolled at a Southern Italian University. Students participating at the experiment were assigned to three different groups: a high reward group, a low reward group and a control group. Rewards were assigned following a tournament rule to the 30 best performing students in each treated group. Findings suggest that financial rewards increase student performance both in terms of number of credits earned and grades obtained at exams. High ability students react strongly while the effect is null for low ability students. When the “intention-to-treat” effects are adjusted for non-participation using IV, it emerges a stronger impact of the treatment on student performance.

Keywords: Education Production Function; Student Effort; Incentives; Merit Scholarship; Higher Education; Randomized Evaluation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D82 I21 J31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 21 pages
Date: 2010-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lab and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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http://www.ecostat.unical.it/RePEc/WorkingPapers/WP06_2010.pdf First version, 2010-04 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Monetary Incentives and Student Achievement in a Depressed Labor Market: Results from a Randomized Experiment (2012)
Working Paper: Monetary Incentives and Student Achievement in a Depressed Labor Market: Results from a Randomized Experiment (2012)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:clb:wpaper:201006

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