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Incentives and praise compared: the ethics of motivation

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Notes

  1. This section relies heavily on Grant (2012), chapters 2 and 3.

  2. The graphs of frequency of word usage in this paper were produced using Google Ngrams. On the changing meaning of the term, see the essay by Robert Sugden in this volume.

  3. If I tell you to eat apples because they will make you healthy, I am appealing to the natural or automatic consequence of eating apples. I am giving you a reason to eat them. If I tell you that I will give you a dollar every time you eat an apple, I am offering you an incentive.

  4. Prizes are a form of praise in this respect.

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  1. Duke University, Durham, NC, USA

    Ruth W. Grant

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  1. Ruth W. Grant
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Correspondence to Ruth W. Grant.

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Grant, R.W. Incentives and praise compared: the ethics of motivation. Int Rev Econ 66, 17–28 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12232-018-0293-z

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