The Case Against the Case Against Incentives

Abstract Having Written A Book on the importance of incentives, and on getting those incentives right, it is easy for us to leave the impression that everyone believes that incentives are important. But we would be wrong if we did. There are analysts who have reached conclusions very different from ours on the basis of their studies of the effects of incentives on behavior. Our view is that people respond in predictable ways to incentives. If you want people to do more of something, you increase the payoff they receive from doing it. The payoff can take many different forms, but money is a common and extremely effective one.