The Causal Link Between Financial Incentives and Weight Loss: An Evidence‐based Survey of the Literature

Paloyo, Alfredo R.; Reichert, Arndt; Reinermann, Holger; Tauchmann, Harald

doi:10.1111/joes.12010

Cited by 24 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 47 publications

(74 reference statements)

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“…The experiment demonstrated that a positive, output-based financial incentive is an effective instrument to achieve a significant weight loss among the obese, consistent with what has been found in a number of previous studies [Paloyo et al 2014]. However, a general heterogeneity in the treatment effect of financial incentives is neither observed for socioeconomic characteristics nor for exhibited health-related behaviors in the study.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

“…Input-based incentives are typically tied to better diet and an active physical lifestyle, which are generally harder or at least more costly to observe than a simple measure of one's weight on a particular date. (A taxonomy of incentive designs is provided in Paloyo et al [2014]. )…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A number of previous studies have issues with respect to sample size and methodology (see Paloyo et al [2014] for an evidence-based survey of the literature), consequently making a causal interpretation of previous results unwarranted. Endogeneity and selection issues have not always been addressed adequately in the earlier literature.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While previous studies have shown that financial incentives are effective at inducing weight loss [Paloyo et al 2014], the evidence for its effectiveness at maintaining the lower weight is limited and not definitive [Reuss-Borst et al 2015;Augurzky et al 2015;Jeffery 2012]. …”

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confidence: 99%

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Who responds to financial incentives for weight loss? Evidence from a randomized controlled trial

Paloyo

Reichert

Reuß‐Borst³

et al. 2015

Social Science & Medicine

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There is a paucity of evidence on the heterogeneous impacts of financial incentives on weight loss. Between March 2010 and January 2012, in a randomized controlled trial, we assigned 700 obese persons to three experimental arms. We test whether particular subgroups react differently to financial incentives for weight loss. Two treatment groups obtained a cash reward (€150 and €300 with 237 and 229 participants, respectively) for achieving an individually-assigned target weight within four months; the control group (234 participants) was not incentivized. Participants and administrators were not blinded to the intervention. We find that monetary rewards effectively induced obese individuals to reduce weight across all subgroups. However, there is no evidence for treatment-effect heterogeneity for those groups that were incentivized. Among those who were in the €300 group, statistically significant and large weight losses were observed for women, singles, and those who are not working (all above 4 kg in four months). In addition, the magnitude of the reward matters only for women and migrants. The effectiveness of financial incentives to reduce weight nevertheless raises sensitive ethical issues that should be taken into consideration by policymakers. In a randomized controlled trial involving 700 obese persons assigned to three experimental arms, we test whether financial incentives have heterogeneous effects over subgroups on weight reduction. Two treatment groups obtained a cash reward (€150 and €300 with 237 and 229 participants, respectively) for achieving an individually-assigned target weight within four months; the control group (234 participants) was not incentivized. Participants and administrators were not blinded to the intervention. We find that monetary rewards effectively induced obese individuals to reduce weight across all subgroups. However, there is no evidence for treatment-effect heterogeneity for those groups that were incentivized. Among those who were in the €300 group, statistically significant and large weight losses were observed for women, singles, and those who are not working (all above 4 kg in four months). In addition, the magnitude of the reward matters only for women and migrants.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Who responds to financial incentives for weight loss? Evidence from a randomized controlled trial

Paloyo

Reichert

Reuß‐Borst³

et al. 2015

Social Science & Medicine

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“…Since participants in Kramer et al (1986) received not only the financial-incentive treatment, but also interacted with each other during discussion meetings, the effect of the deposit cannot be singled out. Further limitations of the study are discussed in Paloyo et al (2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Small Cash Rewards for Big Losers Experimental Insights into the Fight Against the Obesity Epidemic

et al. 2014

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Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. The working papers published in the Series constitute work in progress circulated to stimulate discussion and critical comments. Views expressed represent exclusively the authors' own opinions and do not necessarily refl ect those of the editors. Terms of use: Documents in Ruhr Economic Papers #530

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Does moderate weight loss affect subjective health perception in obese individuals? Evidence from field experimental data

2021

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This paper analyzes whether moderate weight reduction improves subjective health perception in obese individuals. Besides simple regression models, in a simultaneous equation framework we use randomized monetary weight loss incentives as instrument for weight change, to address possible endogeneity bias. In contrast to related earlier work that also employed instrumental variables estimation, identification does not rely on long-term, between-individuals weight variation, but on short-term, within-individual weight variation. Yet, our result does not suggest that the simple regressions suffer from much endogeneity bias, since instrumental variables estimation yields similar—though far noisily estimated and statistically insignificant—estimates. In qualitative terms, our results do not contradict previous findings pointing to weight loss in obese individuals resulting in improved subjective health. Our results suggest that a reduction of body weight by one BMI unit is associated with an increase in the probability of reporting self-rated health to be ‘satisfactory’ or better by 3 to 4 percentage points. This finding may encourage obese individuals in their weight loss attempts, since they are likely to be immediately rewarded for their efforts by subjective health improvements.

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The Causal Link Between Financial Incentives and Weight Loss: An Evidence‐based Survey of the Literature

Cited by 24 publications

References 47 publications

Who responds to financial incentives for weight loss? Evidence from a randomized controlled trial

Who responds to financial incentives for weight loss? Evidence from a randomized controlled trial

Small Cash Rewards for Big Losers Experimental Insights into the Fight Against the Obesity Epidemic

Does moderate weight loss affect subjective health perception in obese individuals? Evidence from field experimental data

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