Motivation Crowding Theory: A Survey Of Empirical Evidence, Revised Version

Bruno Frey and Reto Jegen

No 49, IEW - Working Papers from Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - University of Zurich

Abstract: The Motivation Crowding Effect suggests that external intervention via monetary incentives punishments may undermine, and under different identifiable conditions strengthen, intrinsic motivation. As of today, the theoretical possibility of motivation crowding has been the main subject of discussion among economists. This study demonstrates that the effect is also of empirical relevance. There exist a large number of studies, offering empirical evidence in support of the existence of crowding-out crowding-in exists. The study is based on circumstantial evidence, laboratory studies by both psychologists and economists, as well as field research by econometric studies. The pieces of evidence presented refer to a wide variety of areas of the economy and society and have been collected for many different countries and periods of time. Crowding effects thus are an empirically relevant phenomenon, which can, in specific cases, even dominate the traditional relative price effect.

Keywords: Crowding effect; intrinsic motivation; principal-agent theory; economic psychology; experiments (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A12 J33 L22 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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