Seminar by David Kiss

Sala Seminari – I° piano, Palazzo Levi Cases, Via del Santo 33, ore 12.30

10.04.2018

Seminar by David Kiss, Leibniz University Hannover

TITLE: Do rewards reduce effort? Evidence from university exams

ABSTRACT: This paper investigates the effects of a reward on college freshmen's study effort. In our natural experiment, the reward has the form of bonus points which students could earn for their final exam if they passed a mid-term pre-exam. Based on administrative data from university records, we compare students who barely passed the pre-exam to those who failed. Our difference-in-differences estimates suggest that the receipt of bonus points worsens final exam performance of male students, but does not have an effect on female students. The sizable negative effect on male students' performance cannot be rationalized within a simple labor-leisure choice framework, suggesting that gender-specific differences in behavioral factors such as confidence levels may explain the results.