Bad Incentives

“I’m not surprised this didn’t work. It sounds demeaning and, in addition, if this is a health issue then the benefits to her in terms of longevity are worth more than $10 per pound.”

Emily Oster is an economics professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and answers questions at The Wall Street Journal from the perspective of an economist. Her above answer is to a person who is trying to use a financial incentive ($10 a pound) to encourage his spouse to lose weight. I’m not surprised it didn’t work either.

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