IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/rco/dpaper/476.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Overcoming Time Inconsistency with a Matched Bet: Theory and Evidence from Exercising

Author

Listed:
  • Andrej Woerner

    (LMU Munich)

Abstract

This paper introduces the matched-bet mechanism. The matched bet is an easily applicable and strictly budget-balanced mechanism that aims to help people overcome time-inconsistent behavior. I show theoretically that offering a matched bet helps both sophisticated and naive procrastinators to reduce time-inconsistent behavior. A field experiment on exercising confirms the theoretical predictions: offering a matched bet has a significant positive effect on gym attendance. Self-reported procrastinators are significantly more likely to take up the matched bet. Overall, the matched bet proves a promising device to help people not to procrastinate.

Suggested Citation

  • Andrej Woerner, 2023. "Overcoming Time Inconsistency with a Matched Bet: Theory and Evidence from Exercising," Rationality and Competition Discussion Paper Series 476, CRC TRR 190 Rationality and Competition.
    • Handle: RePEc:rco:dpaper:476
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://rationality-and-competition.de/wp-content/uploads/discussion_paper/476.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Roland G. Fryer, 2011. "Financial Incentives and Student Achievement: Evidence from Randomized Trials," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 126(4), pages 1755-1798.
    2. Beshears, John & Choi, James J. & Harris, Christopher & Laibson, David & Madrian, Brigitte C. & Sakong, Jung, 2020. "Which early withdrawal penalty attracts the most deposits to a commitment savings account?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    3. 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.
    4. Roland G. Fryer, 2011. "Teacher Incentives and Student Achievement: Evidence from New York City Public Schools," NBER Working Papers 16850, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Ned Augenblick & Matthew Rabin, 2019. "An Experiment on Time Preference and Misprediction in Unpleasant Tasks," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 86(3), pages 941-975.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Woerner, Andrej, 2023. "Overcoming Time Inconsistency with a Matched Bet: Theory and Evidence from Exercising," VfS Annual Conference 2023 (Regensburg): Growth and the "sociale Frage" 277711, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    2. Andrej Woerner, 2021. "Overcoming Time Inconsistency with a Matched Bet: Theory and Evidence from Exercising," CESifo Working Paper Series 9503, CESifo.
    3. Roland Fryer & Steven Levitt & John List & Anya Samek, 2020. "Introducing CogX: A New Preschool Education Program Combining Parent and Child Interventions," Framed Field Experiments 00718, The Field Experiments Website.
    4. Lisa Barrow & Cecilia Elena Rouse, 2018. "Financial Incentives and Educational Investment: The Impact of Performance-based Scholarships on Student Time Use," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 13(4), pages 419-448, Fall.
    5. James Berry, 2015. "Child Control in Education Decisions: An Evaluation of Targeted Incentives to Learn in India," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 50(4), pages 1051-1080.
    6. Anett John, 2020. "When Commitment Fails: Evidence from a Field Experiment," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(2), pages 503-529, February.
    7. Damon Clark & David Gill & Victoria Prowse & Mark Rush, 2020. "Using Goals to Motivate College Students: Theory and Evidence From Field Experiments," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 102(4), pages 648-663, October.
    8. Islam, Asad & Kwon, Sungoh & Masood, Eema & Prakash, Nishith & Sabarwal, Shwetlena & Saraswat, Deepak, 2020. "When Goal-Setting Forges Ahead but Stops Short," GLO Discussion Paper Series 526, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    9. Uwe Dulleck & Juliana Silva-Goncalves & Benno Torgler, 2014. "Impact Evaluation of an Incentive Program on Educational Achievement of Indigenous Students," CREMA Working Paper Series 2014-13, Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA).
    10. Cockx, B. & Declercq, Koen & Dejemeppe, Muriel, 2022. "Losing prospective entitlement to unemployment benefits. Impact on educational attainment," ROA Research Memorandum 003, Maastricht University, Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market (ROA).
    11. Lisa Barrow & Lashawn Richburg-Hayes & Cecilia Elena Rouse & Thomas Brock, 2014. "Paying for Performance: The Education Impacts of a Community College Scholarship Program for Low-Income Adults," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 32(3), pages 563-599.
    12. Visaria, Sujata & Dehejia, Rajeev & Chao, Melody M. & Mukhopadhyay, Anirban, 2016. "Unintended consequences of rewards for student attendance: Results from a field experiment in Indian classrooms," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 173-184.
    13. Burgess, Simon & Metcalfe, Robert & Sadoff, Sally, 2021. "Understanding the response to financial and non-financial incentives in education: Field experimental evidence using high-stakes assessments," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    14. Bach, Maximilian & Fischer, Mira, 2020. "Understanding the response to high-stakes incentives in primary education," ZEW Discussion Papers 20-066, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    15. Maria De Paola & Vincenzo Scoppa & Rosanna Nisticò, 2012. "Monetary Incentives and Student Achievement in a Depressed Labor Market: Results from a Randomized Experiment," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 6(1), pages 56-85.
    16. Barrera-Osorio, Felipe & Cilliers, Jacobus & Cloutier, Marie-Hélène & Filmer, Deon, 2022. "Heterogenous teacher effects of two incentive schemes: Evidence from a low-income country," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    17. Rosa Sanchis-Guarner & José Montalbán & Felix Weinhardt, 2021. "Home Broadband and Human Capital Formation," CESifo Working Paper Series 8846, CESifo.
    18. Michael L. Anderson & Justin Gallagher & Elizabeth Ramirez Ritchie, 2017. "School Lunch Quality and Academic Performance," NBER Working Papers 23218, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Ama Baafra Abeberese & Todd J. Kumler & Leigh L. Linden, 2014. "Improving Reading Skills by Encouraging Children to Read in School:: A Randomized Evaluation of the Sa Aklat Sisikat Reading Program in the Philippines," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 49(3), pages 611-633.
    20. Christopher S. Cotton & Brent R. Hickman & Joseph P. Price, 2022. "Affirmative Action and Human Capital Investment: Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 40(1), pages 157-185.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    monetary incentives; market design; field experiment; health behavior;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments
    • D47 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Market Design
    • D90 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - General
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:rco:dpaper:476. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Viviana Lalli (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://rationality-and-competition.de .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.