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A case study of a workplace wellness program that offers financial incentives for weight loss

Author Info

  • Cawley, John
  • Price, Joshua A.

Abstract

Employers are increasingly adopting workplace wellness programs designed to improve employee health and decrease employer costs associated with health insurance and job absenteeism. This paper examines the outcomes of 2635 workers across 24 worksites who were offered financial incentives for weight loss that took various forms, including fixed payments and forfeitable bonds.

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Article provided by Elsevier in its journal Journal of Health Economics.

Volume (Year): 32 (2013)
Issue (Month): 5 ()
Pages: 794-803

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Handle: RePEc:eee:jhecon:v:32:y:2013:i:5:p:794-803
Contact details of provider: Web page: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/505560

Keywords: Obesity; Behavioral economics; Incentives; Weight loss; Time-inconsistent preferences; Hyperbolic discounting; Health; Workplace wellness;

Find related papers by JEL classification:

  • I1 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health
  • D03 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Behavioral Microeconomics: Underlying Principles
  • J01 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics: General
  • J3 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs

References listed on IDEAS
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  1. Eric P. Bettinger & Bridget Terry Long & Philip Oreopoulos & Lisa Sanbonmatsu, 2012. "The Role of Application Assistance and Information in College Decisions: Results from the H&R Block Fafsa Experiment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 127(3), pages 1205-1242.
  2. Stefano DellaVigna & Ulrike Malmendier, 2006. "Paying Not to Go to the Gym," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(3), pages 694-719, June.
  3. Charness, Gary B & Gneezy, Uri, 2008. "Incentives to Exercise," University of California at Santa Barbara, Economics Working Paper Series qt3tc3j5x7, Department of Economics, UC Santa Barbara.
  4. John Cawley & Chad Meyerhoefer, 2010. "The Medical Care Costs of Obesity: An Instrumental Variables Approach," NBER Working Papers 16467, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  5. Augurzky, Boris & Bauer, Thomas K. & Reichert, Arndt R. & Schmidt, Christoph M. & Tauchmann, Harald, 2012. "Does Money Burn Fat? – Evidence from a Randomized Experiment," Ruhr Economic Papers 368, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
  6. Yakusheva, Olga & Kapinos, Kandice & Weiss, Marianne, 2011. "Peer effects and the Freshman 15: Evidence from a natural experiment," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 9(2), pages 119-132, March.
  7. Burkhauser, Richard V. & Cawley, John, 2008. "Beyond BMI: The value of more accurate measures of fatness and obesity in social science research," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 519-529, March.
  8. John Cawley & Joshua A. Price, 2011. "Outcomes in a Program that Offers Financial Rewards for Weight Loss," NBER Chapters, in: Economic Aspects of Obesity, pages 91-126 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  9. Amos Tversky & Daniel Kahneman, 1991. "Loss Aversion in Riskless Choice: A Reference-Dependent Model," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 106(4), pages 1039-1061.
  10. Uri Gneezy & Stephan Meier & Pedro Rey-Biel, 2011. "When and Why Incentives (Don't) Work to Modify Behavior," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 25(4), pages 191-210, Fall.
  11. Amos Tversky & Daniel Kahneman, 1979. "Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision under Risk," Levine's Working Paper Archive 7656, David K. Levine.
  12. David S. Lee, 2009. "Training, Wages, and Sample Selection: Estimating Sharp Bounds on Treatment Effects," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 76(3), pages 1071-1102.
  13. Heather Royer & Mark F. Stehr & Justin R. Sydnor, 2012. "Incentives, Commitments and Habit Formation in Exercise: Evidence from a Field Experiment with Workers at a Fortune-500 Company," NBER Working Papers 18580, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  14. Rachel Croson & Uri Gneezy, 2009. "Gender Differences in Preferences," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 47(2), pages 448-74, June.
  15. Nicholas Burger & John Lynham, 2010. "Betting on weight loss … and losing: personal gambles as commitment mechanisms," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(12), pages 1161-1166.
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Cited by:

  1. Caliendo, Marco & Gehrsitz, Markus, 2014. "Obesity and the Labor Market: A Fresh Look at the Weight Penalty," IZA Discussion Papers 7947, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  2. Angelucci, Manuela & Prina, Silvia & Royer, Heather & Samek, Anya, 2016. "When incentives backfire: Spillover effects in food choice," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Market Behavior SP II 2016-205, Social Science Research Center Berlin (WZB).
  3. Anya Samek & John List, 2014. "A Field Experiment on the Impact of Incentives on Milk Choice in the Lunchroom," Natural Field Experiments 00428, The Field Experiments Website.
  4. Anya Samek & Heather Royer & Manuela Angelucci & Silvia Prina, 2015. "When Incentives Backfire: Spillover Effects in Food Choice," Framed Field Experiments 00444, The Field Experiments Website.
  5. Angelucci, Manuela & Prina, Silvia & Royer, Heather & Samek, Anya, 2015. "When Incentives Backfire: Spillover Effects in Food Choice," IZA Discussion Papers 9288, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  6. Peter Neumann & Cayla Saret, 2014. "Is the US “leading from behind” on health policy?," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 15(2), pages 113-116, March.
  7. Cawley, John, 2015. "An economy of scales: A selective review of obesity's economic causes, consequences, and solutions," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 244-268.
  8. Barbieri, Paolo Nicola, 2015. "Body Weight, Dieting and Obesity Traps," MPRA Paper 67671, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  9. Reichert, Arndt R. & Tauchmann, Harald & Wübker, Ansgar, 2015. "Weight loss and sexual activity in adult obese individuals: Establishing a causal link," FAU Discussion Papers in Economics 06/2015, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Institute for Economics.
  10. Pedersen, Morten Saaby & Arendt, Jacob Nielsen, 2014. "Bargaining for health: A case study of a collective agreement-based health program for manual workers," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 123-136.
  11. Barbieri, Paolo Nicola, 2016. "Weight loss, obesity traps and policy policies," MPRA Paper 71327, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  12. Anya Samek & John List & Terri Zhu, 2015. "Incentives to Eat Healthy: Evidence from a Grocery Store Field Experiment," Framed Field Experiments 00421, The Field Experiments Website.

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