Put Your Money Where Your Butt is: A Commitment Contract for Smoking Cessation

34 Pages Posted: 20 Apr 2016

See all articles by Xavier Giné

Xavier Giné

World Bank - Development Research Group (DECRG)

Dean S. Karlan

Yale University; Northwestern University - Kellogg School of Management; Innovations for Poverty Action; Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL); National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

Jonathan Zinman

Dartmouth College; Innovations for Poverty Action; Jameel Poverty Action Lab; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Date Written: July 1, 2009

Abstract

The authors designed and tested a voluntary commitment product to help smokers quit smoking. The product (CARES) offered smokers a savings account in which they deposit funds for six months, after which they take a urine test for nicotine and cotinine. If they pass, their money is returned; otherwise, their money is forfeited to charity. Eleven percent of smokers offered CARES tookup, and smokers randomly offered CARES were 3 percentage points more likely to pass the 6-month test than the control group. More importantly, this effect persisted in surprise tests at 12 months, indicating that CARES produced lasting smoking cessation.

Keywords: Tobacco Use and Control, Health Monitoring & Evaluation, Disease Control & Prevention, Alcohol and Substance Abuse, Adolescent Health

Suggested Citation

Gine, Xavier and Karlan, Dean S. and Karlan, Dean S. and Zinman, Jonathan, Put Your Money Where Your Butt is: A Commitment Contract for Smoking Cessation (July 1, 2009). World Bank Policy Research Working Paper No. 4985, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1429254

Xavier Gine (Contact Author)

World Bank - Development Research Group (DECRG) ( email )

1818 H. Street, N.W.
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HOME PAGE: https://sites.google.com/site/decrgxaviergine/

Dean S. Karlan

Yale University ( email )

Box 208269
New Haven, CT 06520-8269
United States

Northwestern University - Kellogg School of Management ( email )

2001 Sheridan Road
Evanston, IL 60208
United States

Innovations for Poverty Action ( email )

1731 Connecticut Ave, 4th floor
New Haven, CT 20009
United States

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) ( email )

E60-246
77 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02139
United States

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) ( email )

London
United Kingdom

Jonathan Zinman

Dartmouth College ( email )

Hanover, NH 03755
United States
603-646-0075 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://https://sites.dartmouth.edu/jzinman/

Innovations for Poverty Action

1731 Connecticut Ave, 4th floor
New Haven, CT 20009
United States

Jameel Poverty Action Lab

E60-246
77 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02139
United States

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

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