Thaler — “One overly simplistic idea is that we can…”

Source: Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics — Richard H. Thaler

Book page: thaler-misbehaving

From: Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics — Quotes

---

One overly simplistic idea is that we can improve student performance just by giving financial incentives to parents, teachers, or kids. Unfortunately, there is little evidence that such incentives are effective, but nuances matter. For example, one intriguing finding by Roland Fryer suggests that rewarding students for inputs (such as doing their homework) rather than outputs (such as their grades) is effective. I find this result intuitively appealing because the students most in need do not know how to become better students. It makes sense to reward them for doing things that educators believe are effective.