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Enhancing the Efficacy of Teacher Incentives through Framing: A Field Experiment

Author

Listed:
  • Roland G. Fryer, Jr.
  • Steven D. Levitt
  • John List
  • Sally Sadoff

Abstract

In a field experiment, we provide financial incentives to teachers framed either as gains, received at the end of the year, or as losses, in which teachers receive up-front bonuses that must be paid back if their students do not improve sufficiently. Pooling two waves of the experiment, loss-framed incentives improve math achievement by an estimated 0.124 standard deviations (σ), with large effects in the first wave and no effects in the second wave. Effects for gain-framed incentives are smaller and not statistically significant, approximately 0.051σ. We find suggestive evidence that the effects on teacher value added persist posttreatment.

Suggested Citation

  • Roland G. Fryer, Jr. & Steven D. Levitt & John List & Sally Sadoff, 2022. "Enhancing the Efficacy of Teacher Incentives through Framing: A Field Experiment," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 14(4), pages 269-299, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:aea:aejpol:v:14:y:2022:i:4:p:269-99
    DOI: 10.1257/pol.20190287
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. NISHIHATA Masaya & TAHARA Hidenori & KOBAYASHI Yohei, 2023. "Does Sending Teachers Abroad Enhance Their Quality and Ability?," Discussion papers 23055, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    2. Florian Englmaier & Stefan Grimm & Dominik Grothe & David Schindler & Simeon Schudy, 2018. "The Effect of Incentives in Non-Routine Analytical Team Tasks," CESifo Working Paper Series 6903, CESifo.
    3. Brice Corgnet & Roberto Hernán González, 2023. "You Will not Regret it: On the Practice of Randomized Incentives," Working Papers 2314, Groupe d'Analyse et de Théorie Economique Lyon St-Étienne (GATE Lyon St-Étienne), Université de Lyon.
    4. Derek Neal & Joseph Root, 2024. "The Provision of Information and Incentives in School Assignment Mechanisms," NBER Chapters, in: New Directions in Market Design, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Taisuke Imai & Klaus M. Schmidt, 2023. "Loss Aversion," ISER Discussion Paper 1218, Institute of Social and Economic Research, Osaka University.
    6. Taisuke Imai & Klaus Schmidt, 2023. "Loss Aversion," Rationality and Competition Discussion Paper Series 461, CRC TRR 190 Rationality and Competition.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments
    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy
    • J32 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Nonwage Labor Costs and Benefits; Retirement Plans; Private Pensions
    • J45 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Public Sector Labor Markets

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