DP6666 The Big Carrot: High Stake Incentives Revisited

Author(s): Pablo Brañas-Garza , Teresa García-Muñoz , Shoshana Neuman

Publication Date: January 2008

Keyword(s): carrot/stick , high stakes , rewards , punishment , Economics of Religion

JEL(s): C91 , D64 , Z13

Programme Areas: Labour Economics

Link to this Page: www.cepr.org/pubs/dps/DP6666.asp.asp

This paper provides an empirical demonstration of high stakes incentives in relation to religious practice. It shows that, when both positive (carrot) and negative (stick) incentives are available, the former are more effective than the latter. Specifically, it is shown that beliefs in heaven are much more relevant than beliefs in hell when estimating the production of religious commodities (church-attendance and praying equations).