-
Using Incentives to Encourage Healthy Eating in Children
- Journal of Human Resources
- University of Wisconsin Press
- Volume 48, Number 4, Fall 2013
- pp. 855-872
- 10.1353/jhr.2013.0029
- Article
- Additional Information
- Purchase/rental options available:
There is growing interest in the situations in which incentives have a significant effect on positive behaviors, particularly in children. Using a randomized field experiment, we find that incentives increase the fraction of children eating a serving of fruits or vegetables during lunch by 80 percent and reduce the amount of waste by 33 percent. At schools with a larger fraction of low-income children, the increase in the fraction of children who eat a serving of fruits or vegetables is even larger, indicating that incentives successfully target the children who are likely to benefit the most from the increased consumption.