Toward an Understanding of the Welfare Effects of Nudges: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Uganda

Erwin Bulte, John List and Daan van Soest

Natural Field Experiments from The Field Experiments Website

Abstract: Social scientists have recently explored how framing of gains and losses affects productivity. We conducted a field experiment in peri-urban Uganda, and compared output levels across 1000 workers over isomorphic tasks and incentives, framed as either losses or gains. We find that loss aversion can be leveraged to increase the productivity of labor. The estimated welfare costs of using the loss contract are quite modest -- perhaps because the loss contract is viewed as a (soft) commitment device.

Date: 2019
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-cbe, nep-exp and nep-upt
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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Working Paper: Toward an Understanding of the Welfare Effects of Nudges: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Uganda (2019)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:feb:natura:00674

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