Want to change the behavior of a group of people? Why not pay them?
I used to teach high school in Brooklyn and one of my fellow teachers was pushing this idea for years. He argued that we’d spend a lot less money giving kids some cash to show up and do the work than we do trying to round up truants and pushing kids through the criminal justice system.
In some areas, the idea of paying for behaviors is catching on and it has some support among Obama insiders.
In the city of Greensboro, N.C., there’s a program designed for teenage mothers. To prevent these teens from having another child, the city offers each of them $1 a day for every day they are not pregnant. It turns out that the psychological power of that small daily payment is huge. A single dollar a day is enough to push the rate of teen pregnancy down, saving all the incredible costs — human and financial — that go with teen parenting.
I wonder if this would work on an even more personal level? I’d definitely shell out a few grand to upgrade the hygiene habits of those in close proximity.
