TY  - JOUR
AU  - Fryer,Roland G., Jr
TI  - Financial Incentives and Student Achievement: Evidence from Randomized Trials
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 15898
PY  - 2010
Y2  - April 2010
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w15898
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w15898.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Roland G. Fryer, Jr
Department of Economics
Harvard University
Littauer Center 208
Cambridge, MA  02138
Tel: 617/495-9592
Fax: 617/495-8570
E-Mail: rfryer@fas.harvard.edu
AB  - This paper describes a series of school-based randomized trials in over 250 urban schools designed to test the impact of financial incentives on student achievement. In stark contrast to simple economic models, our results suggest that student incentives increase achievement when the rewards are given for inputs to the educational production function, but incentives tied to output are not effective. Relative to popular education reforms of the past few decades, student incentives based on inputs produce similar gains in achievement at lower costs. Qualitative data suggest that incentives for inputs may be more effective because students do not know the educational production function, and thus have little clue how to turn their excitement about rewards into achievement. Several other models, including lack of self-control, complementary inputs in production, or the unpredictability of outputs, are also consistent with the experimental data.
ER  -