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Nudging with information: a randomized field experiment on reminders and feedback

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  • Calzolari, Giacomo
  • Nardotto, Mattia

Abstract

Can people be helped to stick to their plans with a little help from information? We provide a theoretical and empirical analysis of the effects of reminders and feedback on investment activities involving up-front costs and delayed benefits, such as education and healthy behavior. By means of a randomized field experiment, we show that simple weekly reminders induce users of a gym to substantially increase their levels of physical exercise. We show that limited attention helps explain our results, and we find evidence of mental accounting in users' response to the stimulus of reminders. These results show that virtuous behavior, such as following a healthy life style, can be promoted without the need for monetary incentives: providing incentives through information is both effective and cheap.

Suggested Citation

  • Calzolari, Giacomo & Nardotto, Mattia, 2011. "Nudging with information: a randomized field experiment on reminders and feedback," CEPR Discussion Papers 8571, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:8571
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Dean Karlan & Sendhil Mullainathan & Margaret McConnell & Jonathan Zinman, 2010. "Getting to theTop of Mind: How Reminders Increase Saving," Working Papers id:2587, eSocialSciences.
    2. Sexton, Richard J & Johnson, Nancy Brown & Konakayama, Akira, 1987. "Consumer Response to Continuous-Display Electricity-Use Monitors in a Time-of-Use Pricing Experiment," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 14(1), pages 55-62, June.
    3. Sandeep Baliga & Jeffrey C. Ely, 2011. "Mnemonomics: The Sunk Cost Fallacy as a Memory Kludge," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 3(4), pages 35-67, November.
    4. Gary Charness & Uri Gneezy, 2009. "Incentives to Exercise," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 77(3), pages 909-931, May.
    5. Roland G. Fryer, Jr, 2010. "Financial Incentives and Student Achievement: Evidence from Randomized Trials," NBER Working Papers 15898, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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    Cited by:

    1. Simeon Schudy & Verena Utikal, 2015. "Does imperfect data privacy stop people from collecting personal health data?," TWI Research Paper Series 98, Thurgauer Wirtschaftsinstitut, Universität Konstanz.
    2. Patterson, Richard W., 2018. "Can behavioral tools improve online student outcomes? Experimental evidence from a massive open online course," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 293-321.
    3. Altmann, Steffen & Traxler, Christian, 2014. "Nudges at the dentist," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 19-38.
    4. Maria De Paola & Francesca Gioia & Fabio Piluso, 2020. "Does Reminding of Behavioural Biases Increase Returns from Financial Trading? A Field Experiment," International Journal of Economics and Finance, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 12(2), pages 1-1, February.
    5. Axel Sonntag & Daniel John Zizzo, 2014. "Reminders, payment method and charitable giving: evidence from an online experiment," Working Paper series, University of East Anglia, Centre for Behavioural and Experimental Social Science (CBESS) 14-04, School of Economics, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK..
    6. Axel Sonntag & Daniel John Zizzo, 2015. "On Reminder Effects, Drop-Outs and Dominance: Evidence from an Online Experiment on Charitable Giving," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(8), pages 1-17, August.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Feedback; Inattention; Limited memory; Mental accounting; Randomized field experiment; Reminders; Sunk cost;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments
    • D03 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Behavioral Microeconomics: Underlying Principles
    • D11 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Theory

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