School Choice and Inequality in Educational Decisions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mauricio Farias

2014-02-01

Full Text Available School choice has been growing all over the world. However, despite the strong implications school choice could have on future opportunities, the understanding of the mechanisms underlying the school decisions are still not clear. Based on elements from different theories, this paper study factors related with a school- track choice. The study takes advantage of extensive administrative records, national tests, and an ad-hoc survey from Chile, a country with more than 30 years with an educational system based on choice. Results suggest that socioeconomic status, cultural values, the pressure of the environment, parents’ expectations, and self-perception are correlated with the school-track choice. Results suggest that the concept of equality of opportunities in an educational system based on choice should also consider equality in the capacity for taking these decisions

A within-sample investigation of test–retest reliability in choice experiment surveys with real economic incentives

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mørkbak, Morten Raun; Olsen, Søren Bøye

2015-01-01

In this paper, we investigate the level of agreement between respondents' choices in identical choice sets in a test-retest choice experiment for a market good with real economic incentives, thus investigating whether the incentivised CE method can be reliable and stable over time. Besides...... comparing choices, we also test for differences in preferences and error variance when a sample of respondents is given the exact same questionnaire twice, with a time lag of 2 weeks in between. Finally, we examine potential reasons and covariates explaining the level of agreement in choices across the 2...... weeks. Across four different tests, we find very good agreement between the two choice experiments - both with respect to overall choices and with respect to preferences. Furthermore, error variances do not differ significantly between the two surveys. The results also show that the larger the utility...

Economic incentives and individuals choice between welfare programmes and work in Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rasmussen, Martin

We estimate the effect of welfare benefits and wages on individuals' choice between working or collecting one of three welfare programmes. We compare the magnitude of transitions between various welfare programmes with transitions between, say, work and disability benefit. We use simulation methods...... to estimate random parameters. Estimation results show significant effects of economic incentives and significant variations of estimated parameters. Experiments with the estimated model show that transitions within welfare programmes are important relative to transitions between such programmes and work....

School Choice and the Achievement Gap

Science.gov (United States)

Jeynes, William H.

2014-01-01

The possibility is examined that school choice programs could be a means to reducing the achievement gap. Data based on meta-analytic research and the examination of nationwide data sets suggest that school choice programs that include private schools could reduce the achievement gap by 25%. The propounding of this possibility is based on research…

Charter Schools: A Viable Public School Choice Option?

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Geske, Terry G.; And Others

1997-01-01

Overviews the charter-school phenomenon and these schools' basic design. Discusses the government's role in education and identifies various school-choice options. Explores overall autonomy via legislative provisions and examines empirical evidence on charter schools' innovative features, teacher and student characteristics, and parental contracts…

Latino Parents' Choice of Magnet School: How School Choice Differs across Racial and Ethnic Boundaries

Science.gov (United States)

Haynes, Katherine Taylor; Phillips, Kristie J. R.; Goldring, Ellen B.

2010-01-01

Historically, magnet schools have served predominantly Black and Anglo populations. Consequently, little research exists on Latino parent's engagement in school choice and their patterns of participation. Magnet schools are increasingly part of the landscape for improving school achievement for all students. Yet Latino enrollment rates in magnet…

Two Philosophical Errors Concerning School Choice.

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Brighouse, Harry

1997-01-01

Argues, in contrast to David Hargreaves, that libertarianism implies a mild presumption against school choice, and that notions of common good are significant to educational decision making only when deciding between sets of institutions that perform equally well at delivering their obligations. Links these issues to questions about school choice.…

Will a game cause increased fruit/vegetable intake and physical activity in elementary school children?

OpenAIRE

Trimble, Derek

2017-01-01

Background Incentives increase healthy lifestyle choices. Schools don’t have financial resources for an incentive program. Research Question Is there a way to increase fruit and vegetable intake and physical activity in elementary school children at little or no cost to the school?

Indigenous Parents Navigating School Choice in Constrained Landscapes

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Anthony-Stevens, Vanessa

2017-01-01

Educational reform policies in the United States promote school choice as a central tool to empower low-income and minoritized families in order to close the achievement gap. However, research on school choice rarely reflects the voice of minoritized families and offers little evidence that choice significantly addresses inequities in educational…

Does the amount of school choice matter for student engagement?

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Vaughn, Michael G.; Witko, Christopher

2013-01-01

School choice may increase student engagement by enabling students to attend schools that more closely match their needs and preferences. But this effect on engagement may depend on the characteristics of the choices available. Therefore, we consider how the amount of educational choice of different types in a local educational marketplace affects student engagement using a large, national population of 8th grade students. We find that more choice of regular public schools in the elementary and middle school years is associated with a lower likelihood that students will be severely disengaged in eighth grade, and more choices of public schools of choice has a similar effect but only in urban areas. In contrast, more private sector choice does not have such a general beneficial effect. PMID:23682202

Lesher Middle School: Commitment by Choice

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Principal Leadership, 2012

2012-01-01

This article features Lesher Middle School, a school of choice, as are all of the schools in the Poudre School District in Ft. Collins, Colorado. In 2004, it was a traditional junior high school with a declining enrollment that housed an application-based International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme (IB MYP) that resulted in tracking…

School Choice: Education's Trickle Down Theory for Urban Students Attending Private Schools? Study II.

Science.gov (United States)

Kapel, David E.; And Others

This study investigated possible effects of school choice programs by surveying 200 private schools in large urban areas. The survey instrument requested information on school demography, possible effects of participation in a Choice program, costs, selection of students participating in Choice, and climate and parental involvement. Analysis of…

Balancing the Equation. Supply and Demand in Tomorrow's School Choice Marketplaces

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McShane, Michael Q.

2015-01-01

School choice is an education reform premised on a simple proposition: give families more choices, and they will find schools that best fit their children's needs. In short, school choice aims to create a marketplace of schooling options. School choice programs will succeed or fail based on how well they are able to create this marketplace and how…

School Choice Acceptance: An Exploratory Explication

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Koven, Steven G.; Khan, Mobin

2014-01-01

School choice is presented by some as a panacea to the challenges facing education in the United States. Acceptance of choice as a solution, however, is far from universal. This article examines two possible contributors to choice adoption: ideology and political culture. Political culture was found to better explain the complex phenomenon of…

Choice, Charters, and Public School Competition

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Hanushek, Eric A.

2006-01-01

In the last century, public schools changed in ways that dramatically reduced the control that parents have over their local schools. Regaining that control is one key to improving the quality of our schools, and giving students a choice of schools is one way of increasing the influence that parents have over the way schools are run. Several…

Parental Preferences for the Organization of Preschool Vaccination Programs Including Financial Incentives: A Discrete Choice Experiment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Darren Flynn PhD

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Objective: To establish preferences of parents and guardians of preschool children for the organization of preschool vaccination services, including financial incentives. Design: An online discrete choice experiment. Participants: Parents and guardians of preschool children (up to age 5 years who were (n = 259 and were not (n = 262 classified as at high risk of incompletely vaccinating their children. High risk of incomplete vaccination was defined as any of the following: aged less than 20 years, single parents, living in one of the 20% most deprived areas in England, had a preschool child with a disability, or had more than three children. Main Outcome Measures: Participant preferences expressed as positive (utility or negative (disutility on eight attributes and levels describing the organization of preschool vaccination programs. Results: There was no difference in preference for parental financial incentives compared to no incentive in parents “not at high risk” of incomplete vaccination. Parents who were “at high risk” expressed utility for cash incentives. Parents “at high risk” of incomplete vaccination expressed utility for information on the risks and benefits of vaccinations to be provided as numbers rather than charts or pictures. Both groups preferred universally available, rather than targeted, incentives. Utility was identified for shorter waiting times, and there were variable preferences for who delivered vaccinations. Conclusions: Cash incentives for preschool vaccinations in England would be welcomed by parents who are “at high risk” of incompletely vaccinating their children. Further work is required on the optimal mode and form of presenting probabilistic information on vaccination to parents/guardians, including preferences on mandatory vaccination schemes.

School choice & social stratification: how intra-district transfers shift the racial/ethnic and economic composition of schools.

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Phillips, Kristie J R; Larsen, Elisabeth S; Hausman, Charles

2015-05-01

The liberation model hypothesizes that school choice liberates students from underperforming schools by giving them the opportunity to seek academically superior schooling options outside of their neighborhoods. Subsequently, school choice is hypothesized to diminish stratification in schools. Data from one urban school district is analyzed to test these hypotheses. We specifically examine which factors influence the propensity for parents to participate in choice, and how school choice changes the racial/ethnic and economic composition of schools. We further examine how school choice influences similar changes within distinct sociogeographic areas within the district. We find that families who are zoned to more racially/ethnically and economically diverse schools in sociogeographically diverse areas are more likely to participate in school choice. We also find that intra-district choice is associated with a slight increase in social stratification throughout the district, with more substantial stratification occurring in the most demographically diverse areas and schools. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

"I Wanted to Go Here": Adolescents' Perspectives on School Choice

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Mandic, Sandra; Sandretto, Susan; Hopkins, Debbie; Wilson, Gordon; Moore, Antoni; García Bengoechea, Enrique

2018-01-01

New Zealand legislation removing school zones radically reshaped school choice, resulting in increased school stratification from parental choice frequently driven by social factors such as ethnic makeup of the school community. This article considers school choice through the eyes of 1,465 adolescents from 12 secondary schools in Dunedin (New…

The influence of school choice policy on active school commuting: a case study of a middle-sized school district in Oregon

OpenAIRE

Yizhao Yang; Steve Abbott; Marc Schlossberg

2012-01-01

School choice policy has implications for school travel as it allows students to attend schools farther from their residence than their neighborhood schools. This paper uses a case study from Oregon to investigate how school choice affects parents’ school travel decision making and the degree to which school choice affects children’s walking or biking to school. The research shows that school choice is associated with lengthened school travel distance and parents’ greater willingness to drive...

Who is Afraid of School Choice?

OpenAIRE

Andrea Diem; Stefan C. Wolter

2011-01-01

This study uses survey data to investigate attitudes among Swiss voters to different models offering more freedom of choice in the educational system. The findings indicate clear opposition to the use of taxpayer money to fund private schools, while free choice between public schools seems to appeal to a majority. The analyses show that the approval-opposition heterogeneity is mainly based on an explicable, rational calculation of personal utility. Approval rates are much higher among groups ...

Predicting new service adoption with conjoint analysis : External validity of BDM-based incentive-aligned and dual-response choice designs

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wlömert, Nils; Eggers, Felix

2016-01-01

In this paper, we compare the standard, single-response choice-based con- joint (CBC) approach with three extended CBC procedures in terms of their external predictive validity and their ability to realistically capture consumers’ willingness to pay: (1) an incentive-aligned CBC mechanism (IA-CBC),

School Choice in Indianapolis: Effects of Charter, Magnet, Private, and Traditional Public Schools

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Berends, Mark; Waddington, R. Joseph

2018-01-01

School choice researchers are often limited to comparing one type of choice with another (e.g., charter schools vs. traditional public schools). One area researchers have not examined is the effects of different school types within the same urban region. We fill this gap by analyzing longitudinal data for students (grades 3-8) in Indianapolis,…

Predictors of middle school students' interest in participating in an incentive-based tobacco prevention and cessation program in connecticut.

Science.gov (United States)

Morean, Meghan E; Camenga, Deepa R; Kong, Grace; Cavallo, Dana A; Schepis, Ty S; Krishnan-Sarin, Suchitra

2014-01-01

Behavioral incentives have been used to encourage smoking cessation in older adolescents, but the acceptability of incentives to promote a smoke-free lifestyle in younger adolescents is unknown. To inform the development of novel, effective, school-based interventions for youth, we assessed middle school students' interest in participating in an incentive-based tobacco abstinence program. We surveyed 988 students (grades 6-8) attending three Connecticut middle schools to determine whether interest in program participation varied as a function of (1) intrapersonal factors (i.e., demographic characteristics (sex, age, race), smoking history, and trait impulsivity) and/or (2) aspects of program design (i.e., prize type, value, and reward frequency). Primary analyses were conducted using multiple regression. A majority of students (61.8%) reported interest in program participation. Interest did not vary by gender, smoking risk status, or offering cash prizes. However, younger students, non-Caucasian students, behaviorally impulsive students, and students with higher levels of self-regulation were more likely to report interest. Inexpensive awards (e.g., video games) offered monthly motivated program interest. In sum, middle school students reported high levels of interest in an incentive-based program to encourage a tobacco-free lifestyle. These formative data can inform the design of effective, incentive-based smoking cessation and prevention programs in middle schools.

A discrete choice experiment studying students' preferences for scholarships to private medical schools in Japan.

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Goto, Rei; Kakihara, Hiroaki

2016-02-09

The shortage of physicians in rural areas and in some specialties is a societal problem in Japan. Expensive tuition in private medical schools limits access to them particularly for students from middle- and low-income families. One way to reduce this barrier and lessen maldistribution is to offer conditional scholarships to private medical schools. A discrete choice experiment is carried out on a total of 374 students considering application to medical schools. The willingness to receive a conditional scholarship program to private medical schools is analyzed. The probability of attending private medical schools significantly decreased because of high tuition, a postgraduate obligation to provide a service in specific specialty areas, and the length of time of this obligation. An obligation to provide a service in rural regions had no significant effect on this probability. To motivate non-applicants to private medical schools to enroll in such schools, a decrease in tuition to around 1.2 million yen (US$ 12,000) or less, which is twice that of public schools, was found to be necessary. Further, it was found that non-applicants to private medical schools choose to apply to such schools even with restrictions if they have tuition support at the public school level. Conditional scholarships for private medical schools may widen access to medical education and simultaneously provide incentives to work in insufficiently served areas.

Ranking the schools: How school-quality information affects school choice in the Netherlands

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Koning, P.W.C.; van der Wiel, K.

2013-01-01

This paper analyzes whether information about the quality of high schools published in a national newspaper affects school choice in the Netherlands. We find that negative (positive) school-quality scores decrease (increase) the number of first-year students who choose a school after the year of

Predictors of Middle School Students’ Interest in Participating in an Incentive-Based Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Program in Connecticut

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Meghan E. Morean

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Behavioral incentives have been used to encourage smoking cessation in older adolescents, but the acceptability of incentives to promote a smoke-free lifestyle in younger adolescents is unknown. To inform the development of novel, effective, school-based interventions for youth, we assessed middle school students’ interest in participating in an incentive-based tobacco abstinence program. We surveyed 988 students (grades 6–8 attending three Connecticut middle schools to determine whether interest in program participation varied as a function of (1 intrapersonal factors (i.e., demographic characteristics (sex, age, race, smoking history, and trait impulsivity and/or (2 aspects of program design (i.e., prize type, value, and reward frequency. Primary analyses were conducted using multiple regression. A majority of students (61.8% reported interest in program participation. Interest did not vary by gender, smoking risk status, or offering cash prizes. However, younger students, non-Caucasian students, behaviorally impulsive students, and students with higher levels of self-regulation were more likely to report interest. Inexpensive awards (e.g., video games offered monthly motivated program interest. In sum, middle school students reported high levels of interest in an incentive-based program to encourage a tobacco-free lifestyle. These formative data can inform the design of effective, incentive-based smoking cessation and prevention programs in middle schools.

On the choice of schools located outside the walkable ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

In this study, we consider a school choice problem and formulate it into a mathematical model, allowing it to be simplified and solved. The results obtained are useful for the household in making an objective choice of school for the child to be enrolled among several secondary schools located outside his walkable ...

Analyzing the Impacts of a Biogas-to-Electricity Purchase Incentive on Electric Vehicle Deployment with the MA³T Vehicle Choice Model

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Podkaminer, Kara [US Department of Energy, Washington, DC (United States); Xie, Fei [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Lin, Zhenhong [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

2017-01-01

In 2014, the EPA approved a biogas-to-electricity pathway under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). However, no specific applications for this pathway have been approved to date. This analysis helps understand the impact of the pathway by representing the biogas-to-electricity pathway as a point of purchase incentive and tests the impact of this incentive on EV deployment using a vehicle consumer choice model.

Responsibility and School Choice in Education

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Colburn, Ben

2012-01-01

Consider the following argument for school choice, based on an appeal to the virtues of the market: allowing parents some measure of choice over their particular children's education ultimately serves the interests of all children, because creating a market mechanism in state education will produce improvements through the same pressures that lead…

The Readability and Complexity of District-Provided School-Choice Information

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Stein, Marc L.; Nagro, Sarah

2015-01-01

Public school choice has become a common feature in American school districts. Any potential benefits that could be derived from these policies depend heavily on the ability of parents and students to make informed and educated decisions about their school options. We examined the readability and complexity of school-choice guides across a sample…

Behavioral implications of providing real incentives in stated choice experiments

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mørkbak, Morten Raun; Olsen, Søren Bøye; Campbell, Danny

2014-01-01

the scope of research to other behavioral aspects where consumers in CE are often found to deviate from homo economicus. We develop a theoretical model where not only Willingness to pay (WTP) measures but also decision processing can be affected by the introduction of an economic incentive. Specifically...... incentive, we find marked benefits in relation to a number of behavioral aspects that together would favor the use of an economic incentive regardless of hypothetical bias being present or not....

School Choice, Student Mobility, and School Quality: Evidence from Post-Katrina New Orleans

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Welsh, Richard O.; Duque, Matthew; McEachin, Andrew

2016-01-01

In recent decades, school choice policies predicated on student mobility have gained prominence as urban districts address chronically low-performing schools. However, scholars have highlighted equity concerns related to choice policies. The case of post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans provides an opportunity to examine student mobility patterns in…

The Constitutionality of School Choice in New Hampshire

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Douglas, Charles G., III; Komer, Richard D.

2004-01-01

Does a "school choice" program, under which state funds are disbursed on a neutral basis to parents in the form of a voucher to defray the cost of sending their children to a school of their choice, run afoul of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, or of the New Hampshire Constitution? No. A…

Antecedents and consequences of residential choice and school transfer.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Toni Falbo

2005-05-01

Full Text Available This article examines the antecedents and consequences of residential choice and school transfers within one of the eight largest urban school districts in Texas. This study is based on survey data from a representative sample of parents of K-12 students enrolled in this district. In addition to demographic characteristics of the family, the parent decision-making model of Schneider, Teske, & Marschall (2000 was examined to determine if aspects of this model were useful in understanding the school choices made at the beginning of the school year and the parents' motivation to move to another school at the end. The results provide some support for the view that residential choice is related to enhanced achievement and satisfaction; while, within-district transfers were used more by better educated White parents who did not qualify as low income. Parents' motivation to move their children to another school was greater when they perceived the school as less receptive to their involvement and their children as less successful in school.

How School Choice Programs Can Save Money. WebMemo #727

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Johnson, Kirk A.

2005-01-01

Educational choice can improve educational achievement and states' bottom lines. Not only do choice programs help students from lower-income families attend schools that they otherwise might not be able to attend, but they can also save money in the process. A record number of state legislatures have considered school choice legislation this year,…

Disruptive Behavior: An Empirical Evaluation of School Misconduct and Market Accountability. School Choice Issues in Depth

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Forster, Greg; Carr, Matthew

2007-01-01

Opponents of school choice argue that private schools are not "accountable" because they are not subject to detailed oversight by a regulatory bureaucracy. They claim private school employees can be expected to engage in abusive and criminal behavior more frequently. School choice supporters respond that parents hold private schools…

The Social Geography of Choice: Neighborhoods' Role in Students' Navigation of School Choice Policy in Chicago

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Phillippo, Kate L.; Griffin, Briellen

2016-01-01

This study extends research on school choice policy, and on the geography of educational opportunity, by exploring how students understand their school choices and select from them within social-geographical space. Using a conceptual framework that draws from situated social cognition and recent research on neighborhood effects, this study…

The Best Laid Plans: Pay for Performance Incentive Programs for School Leaders

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Goff, Peter; Goldring, Ellen; Canney, Melissa

2016-01-01

In an era of heightened accountability and limited fiscal resources, school districts have sought novel ways to increase the effectiveness of their principals in an effort to increase student proficiency. To address these needs, some districts have turned to pay-for-performance programs, aligning leadership goals with financial incentives to…

The Fiscal Impacts of School Choice in New Hampshire

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Gottlob, Brian J.

2004-01-01

This study addresses the fiscal impacts of school choice in New Hampshire. The author uses one example from the 2003 New Hampshire legislative session to illustrate the fiscal impacts of school choice on New Hampshire and its communities. He develops a unique database of individual and household level responses from the 2000 Census of New…

High Pressure Reform: Examining Urban Schools' Response to Multiple School Choice Policies

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Holme, Jennifer Jellison; Carkhum, Rian; Rangel, Virginia Snodgrass

2013-01-01

Over the past several decades, policymakers have sought to address the problem of school failure by exposing traditional public schools to competitive market forces. In this analysis, we examine how two traditional public schools in a "high pressure/high choice" urban school cluster in Texas responded to a number of overlapping choice…

"It's Our Best Choice Right Now": Exploring How Charter School Parents Choose

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Villavicencio, Adriana

2013-01-01

One of the underlying premises of the charter school movement is that quality drives consumer choice. As educational consumers, parents are viewed as rational actors who, if given the choice, will select better performing school. In examining the choice processes of charter school parents, however, this study calls into question the extent to…

School Choice Outcomes in Post-Katrina New Orleans

Science.gov (United States)

Zimmerman, Jill M.; Vaughan, Debra Y.

2013-01-01

Today, over 80% of public school students in New Orleans attend charter schools, and just 37% of students attend school in their neighborhood (Louisiana Department of Education, 2011; Scott S. Cowen Institute for Public Education Initiatives, 2011). This study examines school choice participation and outcomes in New Orleans by analyzing the extent…

School Choice and the Branding of Catholic Schools

Science.gov (United States)

Trivitt, Julie R.; Wolf, Patrick J.

2011-01-01

How useful are "corporate brands" in markets? In theory, brands convey reliable information, providing consumers with shortcuts to time-consuming provider searches. We examine the usefulness of a corporate brand when parental school choice is expanded through K-12 tuition scholarships. Specifically, we evaluate whether Catholic schools…

The formation of science choices in secondary school

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Cleaves, Anna

2005-04-01

In this paper I examine the formation of post-16 choices over 3 years among higher achieving students with respect to enrolment in post-compulsory science courses. Transcripts from four interviews carried out over 3 years with 72 secondary school students were qualitatively analysed. Students were found to shape their choices for science in a variety of ways across time. The situation regarding science choices hinges on far more dynamic considerations than the stereotypical image of the potential advanced science student, committed to becoming a scientist from an early age. There is an interplay of self-perception with respect to science, occupational images of working scientists, relationship with significant adults and perceptions of school science The findings are informative for science educators and for career guidance professionals who may need to take into account the complexity of young people's choices.

Incentives, equity and the Able Chooser Problem.

Science.gov (United States)

Grill, Kalle

2017-03-01

Health incentive schemes aim to produce healthier behaviours in target populations. They may do so both by making incentivised options more salient and by making them less costly. Changes in costs only result in healthier behaviour if the individual rationally assesses the cost change and acts accordingly. Not all people do this well. Those who fail to respond rationally to incentives will typically include those who are least able to make prudent choices more generally. This group will typically include the least advantaged more generally, since disadvantage inhibits one's effective ability to choose well and since poor choices tend to cause or aggravate disadvantage. Therefore, within the target population, health benefits to the better off may come at the cost of aggravated inequity. This is one instance of a problem I name the Able Chooser Problem, previously emphasised by Richard Arneson in relation to coercive paternalism. I describe and discuss this problem by distinguishing between policy options and their effects on the choice situation of individuals. Both positive and negative incentives, as well as mandates that are less than perfectly effective, require some sort of rational deliberation and action and so face the Able Chooser Problem. In contrast, effective restriction of what options are physically available, as well as choice context design that makes some options more salient or appealing, does not demand rational agency. These considerations provide an equity-based argument for preferring smart design of our choice and living environment to incentives and mandates. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/.

The Role of Nostalgia in School Choice.

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Gorard, Stephen

1998-01-01

Examines factors influencing choice of a new school, using data from a large-scale study in Wales. The "domino effect" sometimes covers three generations; decisions made today reflect, but are not identical to, past decisions. Simple reproduction cannot explain this diversity. Consumer nostalgia may lead schools to conservatism and…

K-12 Schools: The Effect of Public School Choices on Marine Families’ Co-Location Decisions

Science.gov (United States)

2017-03-01

3. REPORT TYPE AND DATES COVERED Master’s thesis 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE K-12 SCHOOLS: THE EFFECT OF PUBLIC SCHOOL CHOICES ON MARINE FAMILIES’ CO...be educated ? One theory regarding decision-making in general is the rational choice theory . This approach to explaining the process of making...NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA THESIS Approved for public release. Distribution is unlimited. K-12 SCHOOLS

School choice: challenge to Sharpeville public school principals

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Erna Kinsey

Every group had its own educational system, adminis- tration and ... School choice enables children from poor families and different race groups to .... ings of the research as authentic experiences, as lived and perceived by informants. ..... another. (One sees beautiful smiles on faces of learners as they speak). We do not ...

Using School Choice: Analyzing How Parents Access Educational Freedom. School Choice Issues in Depth

Science.gov (United States)

Forster, Greg

2005-01-01

This report provides a summary of the process parents must go through to participate in each of the nation's school choice programs, identifying problem areas in some programs. For the first time in one place, this report collects data on participation in each of the programs in current and previous years. Data are given for the number of students…

Cost-free and sustainable incentive increases healthy eating decisions during elementary school lunch.

Science.gov (United States)

Pittman, D W; Parker, J S; Getz, B R; Jackson, C M; Le, T-A P; Riggs, S B; Shay, J M

2012-01-01

We aimed to develop a cost-free and sustainable program to influence healthier eating decisions during elementary school lunch. Baseline food and beverage choices were assessed for 9 days during lunch service at two racially and economically diverse elementary schools in Spartanburg County, SC, USA. After being informed that the labeled items on the daily lunch menu represented the healthiest choice, students were allowed to ring a call bell in the cafeteria for public recognition when they chose all of the identified healthiest food and beverage items during lunch service. Using menus matched to the baseline phase, food and beverage choices were measured during a 9-day intervention phase. After 30 days, food and beverage choices were reassessed during a 3-day follow-up phase. Healthiest food & beverage choices increased 49% with >60% of students choosing non-flavored milk over flavored milk during the intervention phase. There was no difference in the success of the program between the two schools. The program continued and healthy eating decisions were significantly sustained at a 30-day follow-up assessment. Public recognition through bell ringing appears to be an effective practice to sustain increases in healthy eating decisions during elementary school lunch and warrants expansion to larger scale, longitudinal trials.

Successes and Challenges in Using Group-Level Incentives to Increase Children's Aggregate Fruit and Vegetable Consumption for Lunch in One Wisconsin Elementary School

Science.gov (United States)

Chinchanachokchai, Sydney; Jamelske, Eric M.

2015-01-01

Purpose/Objectives: Existing research has investigated the effects of using individual incentives and positive reinforcements to influence children to eat more fruits and vegetables for lunch and snack during school. This study explored using group-level incentives to motivate children in a Wisconsin elementary school to eat more fruits and…

Stepping Up: How Are American Cities Delivering on the Promise of Public School Choice?

Science.gov (United States)

Campbell, Christine; Heyward, Georgia; Gross, Betheny

2017-01-01

In America today, families in almost every urban community have some kind of public school choice. This report focuses on "public school choice," under which families are able to choose from both an array of traditional public schools and public charter schools. Public school choice has grown rapidly in the past 20 years; new charter…

Magnets Adjust to New Climate of School Choice

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Fleming, Nora

2012-01-01

Once considered a way to help integrate racially divided districts, magnet schools today have been forced to evolve, given increasing pressure to provide more public school choices and legal barriers against using race to determine school enrollment. In a post-desegregation era, many large districts like Chicago, Los Angeles, and Baltimore County…

School Choice May Not Be a Shangri-La

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Jeynes, William H.

2017-01-01

For the past half century, the American public school system has been on the receiving end of a considerable amount of criticism. People of faith have often been at the forefront of expressing that criticism. Attached to their criticism religious people have often called for school choice programs that include faith-based schools as the…

A healthy trend: less food used in fundraising and as rewards and incentives in Minnesota middle and high schools.

Science.gov (United States)

Kubik, Martha Y; Farbakhsh, Kian; Lytle, Leslie A

2013-04-01

To assess change in the 4-year prevalence (2006-2009) of the use of food in school fundraising and as rewards and incentives for students, following implementation of federal legislation in the USA in 2006. Serial cross-sectional design using trend analysis to assess school-level data collected over four consecutive years from 2006/2007 to 2009/2010. Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN. Convenience sample of middle and high schools participating in two longitudinal, aetiological studies that examined youth, their environment and obesity-related factors. A significant and sustained decrease was demonstrated in the use of low-nutrient, energy-dense foods in school fundraising activities and the use of food and food coupons as rewards and incentives by teachers and school staff. Results support the utility of policy and legislative action as a tool for creating healthy, sustainable environmental change.

Interest, Not Preference: Dewey and Reframing the Conceptual Vocabulary of School Choice

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Wilson, Terri S.

2016-01-01

School choice positions parents as consumers who select schools that maximize their preferences. This account has been shaped by rational choice theory. In this essay, Terri Wilson contrasts a rational choice framework of "preferences" with John Dewey's understanding of "interest." To illustrate this contrast, she draws on an…

Education Savings Accounts: A Promising Way Forward on School Choice. WebMemo. No. 3382

Science.gov (United States)

Burke, Lindsey M.

2011-01-01

Across the country, states are enacting and expanding school choice options for families. This year alone, 12 states and the District of Columbia have implemented new school choice options for children or expanded existing options, leading The Wall Street Journal to label 2011 "The Year of School Choice." Among the many school choice…

Financial Incentives to Promote Active Travel

OpenAIRE

Martin, Adam; Suhrcke, Marc; Ogilvie, David

2012-01-01

Context Financial incentives, including taxes and subsidies, can be used to encourage behavior change. They are common in transport policy for tackling externalities associated with use of motor vehicles, and in public health for influencing alcohol consumption and smoking behaviors. Financial incentives also offer policymakers a compromise between ?nudging,? which may be insufficient for changing habitual behavior, and regulations that restrict individual choice. Evidence acquisition The lit...

A Proposed Incentive System for Jefferson County Teachers.

Science.gov (United States)

Schlechty, Phillip C.; Ingwerson, Donald W.

1987-01-01

Outlines a teacher incentive plan developed for the Jefferson County (Kentucky) Public Schools and scheduled for pilot testing during the 1987-88 school year. The program is modeled after airline frequent flyer programs and is designed to encourage cooperative action and individual incentive among teachers. (MD)

Modeling school choice: A comparison of public, private-independent, private-religious and home-schooled students

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Clive R. Belfield

2004-06-01

Full Text Available U.S. students now have four choices of schooling: public schooling, private–religious schooling, private–independent schooling, and home-schooling. Of these, home-schooling is the most novel: since legalization across the states in the last few decades, it has grown in importance and legitimacy as an alternative choice. Thus, it is now possible to investigate the motivation for home-schooling, relative to the other schooling options. Here, we use two recent large-scale datasets to assess the school enrollment decision: the first is the National Household Expenditure Survey (1999, and the second is micro-data on SAT test-takers in 2001. We find that, generally, families with home-schoolers have similar characteristics to those with children at other types of school, but mother’s characteristics – specifically, her employment status – have a strong influence on the decision to home-school. Plausibly, religious belief has an important influence on the schooling decision, not only for Catholic students, but also those of other faiths.

Multiple Choice: How Public School Leaders in New Orleans' Saturated Market View Private School Competitors

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Jabbar, Huriya; Li, Dongmei M.

2016-01-01

School choice policies, such as charter schools and vouchers, are in part designed to induce competition between schools. While several studies have examined the impact of private school competition on public schools, few studies have explored school leaders' perceptions of private school competitors. This study examines the extent to which public…

Food Choice Architecture: An Intervention in a Secondary School and its Impact on Students' Plant-based Food Choices.

Science.gov (United States)

Ensaff, Hannah; Homer, Matt; Sahota, Pinki; Braybrook, Debbie; Coan, Susan; McLeod, Helen

2015-06-02

With growing evidence for the positive health outcomes associated with a plant-based diet, the study's purpose was to examine the potential of shifting adolescents' food choices towards plant-based foods. Using a real world setting of a school canteen, a set of small changes to the choice architecture was designed and deployed in a secondary school in Yorkshire, England. Focussing on designated food items (whole fruit, fruit salad, vegetarian daily specials, and sandwiches containing salad) the changes were implemented for six weeks. Data collected on students' food choice (218,796 transactions) enabled students' (980 students) selections to be examined. Students' food choice was compared for three periods: baseline (29 weeks); intervention (six weeks); and post-intervention (three weeks). Selection of designated food items significantly increased during the intervention and post-intervention periods, compared to baseline (baseline, 1.4%; intervention 3.0%; post-intervention, 2.2%) χ(2)(2) = 68.1, p food items during the intervention period, compared to baseline. The study's results point to the influence of choice architecture within secondary school settings, and its potential role in improving adolescents' daily food choices.

A Study of the Factors Influencing Parental Choice of a Charter School

Science.gov (United States)

Ekanem, Imaobong Columba

2013-01-01

The study discussed in this dissertation identified and examined the factors that influence parent charter school choice. The study was conducted for a rural K-8 charter school in Delaware. The survey instrument used was a parent questionnaire which contained questions that examined the reasons for parent charter school choice, the features of…

Designing Incentives for Public School Teachers: Evidence from a Texas Incentive Pay Program

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Springer, Matthew G.; Taylor, Lori L.

2016-01-01

Pay-for-performance is a popular public education reform, but there is little evidence about the characteristics of a well-designed incentive pay plan for teachers. Some of the literature suggests that effective incentive plans must offer relatively large awards to induce behavioral changes. On the other hand, the experimental economics literature…

From School Choice to Student Voice.

Science.gov (United States)

Heckman, Paul E.; Montera, Viki L.

2001-01-01

Educational mass marketing approaches are like fast-food franchises; they offer homogeneous, standardized products that cannot satisfy every consumer's needs. A niche market looks inside the masses to address more individual, specialized choices missing from the menu. Variability, not uniformity, should guide development of public schooling. (MLH)

Choice in Schooling: A Case for Tuition Vouchers.

Science.gov (United States)

Kirkpatrick, David W.

The educational reform movement produced only incremental improvements in student achievement, prompting a need for greater focus on structural and cultural aspects of school organization. Parental choice is the necessary element for successful school reform in the future. The public educational system that has evolved in America is widely…

Determinants of Parental Choice in Schooling: The Coquitlam Experience.

Science.gov (United States)

Cogan, Susana

Parents living in the Coquitlam School District in British Columbia can choose between public and private schools and between English language and French immersion programs in the public schools. This study investigates the choice-making behavior of parents enrolling their children in kindergarten in fall 1977 in terms of socioeconomic factors,…

Girls, girls, girls: Gender composition and female school choice

Science.gov (United States)

Schneeweis, Nicole; Zweimüller, Martina

2012-01-01

Gender segregation in employment may be explained by women's reluctance to choose technical occupations. However, the foundations for career choices are laid much earlier. Educational experts claim that female students are doing better in math and science and are more likely to choose these subjects if they are in single-sex classes. One possible explanation is that coeducational settings reinforce gender stereotypes. In this paper, we identify the causal impact of the gender composition in coeducational classes on the choice of school type for female students. Using natural variation in the gender composition of adjacent cohorts within schools, we show that girls are less likely to choose a traditionally female dominated school type and more likely to choose a male dominated school type at the age of 14 if they were exposed to a higher share of girls in previous grades. PMID:24850996

Girls, girls, girls: Gender composition and female school choice.

Science.gov (United States)

Schneeweis, Nicole; Zweimüller, Martina

2012-08-01

Gender segregation in employment may be explained by women's reluctance to choose technical occupations. However, the foundations for career choices are laid much earlier. Educational experts claim that female students are doing better in math and science and are more likely to choose these subjects if they are in single-sex classes. One possible explanation is that coeducational settings reinforce gender stereotypes. In this paper, we identify the causal impact of the gender composition in coeducational classes on the choice of school type for female students. Using natural variation in the gender composition of adjacent cohorts within schools, we show that girls are less likely to choose a traditionally female dominated school type and more likely to choose a male dominated school type at the age of 14 if they were exposed to a higher share of girls in previous grades.

Utah Public Education Funding: The Fiscal Impact of School Choice. School Choice Issues in the State

Science.gov (United States)

Aud, Susan

2007-01-01

This study examines Utah's funding system for public education and provides an analysis of the fiscal impact of allowing parents to use a portion of their child's state education funding to attend a school of their choice, public or private. Like many states, Utah is facing pressure to improve its system of public education funding. The state's…

Students' approaches to medical school choice: relationship with students' characteristics and motivation.

Science.gov (United States)

Wouters, Anouk; Croiset, Gerda; Schripsema, Nienke R; Cohen-Schotanus, Janke; Spaai, Gerard W G; Hulsman, Robert L; Kusurkar, Rashmi A

2017-06-12

The aim was to examine main reasons for students' medical school choice and their relationship with students' characteristics and motivation during the students' medical study. In this multisite cross-sectional study, all Year-1 and Year-4 students who had participated in a selection procedure in one of the three Dutch medical schools included in the study were invited to complete an online survey comprising personal data, their main reason for medical school choice and standard, validated questionnaires to measure their strength of motivation (Strength of Motivation for Medical School-Revised) and autonomous and controlled type of motivation (Academic Self-regulation Questionnaire). Four hundred seventy-eight students participated. We performed frequency analyses on the reasons for medical school choice and regression analyses and ANCOVAs to study their associations with students' characteristics and motivation during their medical study. Students indicated 'city' (Year-1: 24.7%, n=75 and Year-4: 36.0%, n=52) and 'selection procedure' (Year-1: 56.9%, n=173 and Year-4: 46.9%, n=68) as the main reasons for their medical school choice. The main reasons were associated with gender, age, being a first-generation university student, ethnic background and medical school, and no significant associations were found between the main reasons and the strength and type of motivation during the students' medical study. Most students had based their medical school choice on the selection procedure. If medical schools desire to achieve a good student-curriculum fit and attract a diverse student population aligning the selection procedure with the curriculum and taking into account various students' different approaches is important.

Students’ approaches to medical school choice: relationship with students’ characteristics and motivation

Science.gov (United States)

Croiset, Gerda; Schripsema, Nienke R.; Cohen-Schotanus, Janke; Spaai, Gerard W.G.; Hulsman, Robert L.; Kusurkar, Rashmi A.

2017-01-01

Objectives The aim was to examine main reasons for students’ medical school choice and their relationship with students’ characteristics and motivation during the students’ medical study. Methods In this multisite cross-sectional study, all Year-1 and Year-4 students who had participated in a selection procedure in one of the three Dutch medical schools included in the study were invited to complete an online survey comprising personal data, their main reason for medical school choice and standard, validated questionnaires to measure their strength of motivation (Strength of Motivation for Medical School-Revised) and autonomous and controlled type of motivation (Academic Self-regulation Questionnaire). Four hundred seventy-eight students participated. We performed frequency analyses on the reasons for medical school choice and regression analyses and ANCOVAs to study their associations with students’ characteristics and motivation during their medical study. Results Students indicated ‘city’ (Year-1: 24.7%, n=75 and Year-4: 36.0%, n=52) and ‘selection procedure’ (Year-1: 56.9%, n=173 and Year-4: 46.9%, n=68) as the main reasons for their medical school choice. The main reasons were associated with gender, age, being a first-generation university student, ethnic background and medical school, and no significant associations were found between the main reasons and the strength and type of motivation during the students’ medical study. Conclusions Most students had based their medical school choice on the selection procedure. If medical schools desire to achieve a good student-curriculum fit and attract a diverse student population aligning the selection procedure with the curriculum and taking into account various students’ different approaches is important. PMID:28624778

Affect of school related factors in the student's choices of the high school

OpenAIRE

Gönül Cengiz; Osman Titrek; Özcan Erkan Akgün

2007-01-01

It is studied that to determine the school related factors which affects the students’ choices of the high school, according to the type of the schools. This is a survey study. The participants are 523  9 th grade students in 21 secondary schools in Adapazarı. SPSS is used for analyzing data. Kay-Kare Test is used to determine the demografic differences due to the type of the school. To analyze the data for the school related factors, Kruskal Wallis is used. As a result, it is expr...

Food Choice Architecture: An Intervention in a Secondary School and its Impact on Students’ Plant-based Food Choices

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hannah Ensaff

2015-06-01

Full Text Available With growing evidence for the positive health outcomes associated with a plant-based diet, the study’s purpose was to examine the potential of shifting adolescents’ food choices towards plant-based foods. Using a real world setting of a school canteen, a set of small changes to the choice architecture was designed and deployed in a secondary school in Yorkshire, England. Focussing on designated food items (whole fruit, fruit salad, vegetarian daily specials, and sandwiches containing salad the changes were implemented for six weeks. Data collected on students’ food choice (218,796 transactions enabled students’ (980 students selections to be examined. Students’ food choice was compared for three periods: baseline (29 weeks; intervention (six weeks; and post-intervention (three weeks. Selection of designated food items significantly increased during the intervention and post-intervention periods, compared to baseline (baseline, 1.4%; intervention 3.0%; post-intervention, 2.2% χ2(2 = 68.1, p < 0.001. Logistic regression modelling also revealed the independent effect of the intervention, with students 2.5 times as likely (p < 0.001 to select the designated food items during the intervention period, compared to baseline. The study’s results point to the influence of choice architecture within secondary school settings, and its potential role in improving adolescents’ daily food choices.

A Review of the Empirical Research on Private School Choice

Science.gov (United States)

Egalite, Anna J.; Wolf, Patrick J.

2016-01-01

Parents in the United States have had the legal right to choose the school their child attends for a long time. Traditionally, parental school choice took the form of families moving to a neighborhood with good public schools or self-financing private schooling. Contemporary education policies allow parents in many areas to choose from among…

Nudging for health: do we need financial incentives?

Science.gov (United States)

Goel, Vivek

2012-01-01

Nudges, creating simple processes or structures that guide people toward a particular behaviour choice, are potentially a powerful tool for health promotion. User financial incentives could be a monetary form of such nudges. Given the challenges of chronic disease prevention, interventions such as nudges should be explored further. However, there would appear to be limited rationale for pursuing financial incentives as nudges.

Parental Choice of School, Class Strategies, and Educational Inequality: An Essay Review of "School Choice in China--A Different Tale?" (X. Wu, New York, NY: Routledge, 2014, 168 pp. ISBN 978-0-415-81769-1)

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Shuning; Apple, Michael W.

2016-01-01

Given the increasingly global nature of marketized school choice policies, this makes it even more crucial to investigate how the multiple scales, forms, and emphases of school choice in different countries are influenced by particular political, economic, and cultural conditions. While much of the critical research on school choice policies has…

Can an incentive-based intervention increase physical activity and reduce sitting among adults? the ACHIEVE (Active Choices IncEntiVE) feasibility study.

Science.gov (United States)

Ball, Kylie; Hunter, Ruth F; Maple, Jaimie-Lee; Moodie, Marj; Salmon, Jo; Ong, Kok-Leong; Stephens, Lena D; Jackson, Michelle; Crawford, David

2017-03-21

Despite recent interest in the potential of incentivisation as a strategy for motivating healthier behaviors, little remains known about the effectiveness of incentives in promoting physical activity and reducing sedentary behavior, and improving associated health outcomes. This pre-post-test design study investigated the feasibility, appeal and effects of providing non-financial incentives for promoting increased physical activity, reduced sedentary time, and reduced body mass index (BMI) and blood pressure among inactive middle-aged adults. Inactive men (n = 36) and women (n = 46) aged 40-65 years were recruited via a not-for-profit insurance fund and participated in a 4 month pre-post design intervention. Baseline and post-intervention data were collected on self-reported physical activity and sitting time (IPAQ-Long), BMI and blood pressure. Participants were encouraged to increase physical activity to 150 mins/week and reduce sedentary behavior by 150 mins/week in progressive increments. Incentives included clothing, recipe books, store gift vouchers, and a chance to win one of four Apple iPad Mini devices. The incentive component of the intervention was supported by an initial motivational interview and text messaging to encourage participants and provide strategies to increase physical activity and reduce sedentary behaviors. Only two participants withdrew during the program, demonstrating the feasibility of recruiting and retaining inactive middle-aged participants. While two-thirds of the sample qualified for the easiest physical activity incentive (by demonstrating 100 mins physical activity/week or 100 mins reduced sitting time/week), only one third qualified for the most challenging incentive. Goals to reduce sitting appeared more challenging, with 43% of participants qualifying for the first incentive, but only 20% for the last incentive. More men than women qualified for most incentives. Mean leisure-time physical activity increased by 252

"Meaningful use" of EHR in dental school clinics: how to benefit from the U.S. HITECH Act's financial and quality improvement incentives.

Science.gov (United States)

Kalenderian, Elsbeth; Walji, Muhammad; Ramoni, Rachel B

2013-04-01

Through the 2009 HITECH (Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health) Act, the U.S. government committed $27 billion to incentivize the adoption and "meaningful use" of certified electronic health records (EHRs) by providers, including dentists. Given their patient profiles, dental school clinics are in a position to benefit from this time-delimited commitment to support the adoption and use of certified EHR technology under the Medicaid-based incentive. The benefits are not merely financial: rather, the meaningful use objectives and clinical quality measures can drive quality improvement initiatives within dental practices and help develop a community of medical and dental professionals focused on quality. This article describes how dentists can qualify as eligible providers and the set of activities that must be undertaken and attested to in order to obtain this incentive. Two case studies describe the approaches that can be used to meet the Medicaid threshold necessary to be eligible for the incentive. Dentists can and have successfully applied for meaningful use incentive payments. Given the diverse set of patients who are treated at dental schools, these dental practices are among those most likely to benefit from the incentive programs.

Choice and Diversity of Schooling Provision: Does the Emperor Have Any Clothes?

Science.gov (United States)

Glatter, Ron

2004-01-01

Politicians have been fascinated with choice and diversity in schooling provision for more than a decade now and this intense interest shows no sign of abating. In this article, the author suggests that the precise connection between choice and diversity in schooling provision is very little understood, and that the relationship between them…

Filipino Parents' School Choice and Loyalty: A Factor Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

de Guzman, Allan B.; de Castro, Belinda V.; Aquino, Kieshia Albert B.; Buenaventura, Melinda Anne R.; Duque, Anna Celina C.; Enriquez, Mark Lawrence D. R.

2008-01-01

This quantitative study aims to ascertain the significant relationship existing between parents' profile, and their school choice and school loyalty. Data were gathered using the researcher's two-part made instrument. Respondents were first asked to fill in a "robotfoto" for purpose of profiling their baseline characteristics and were…

Going Through Medical School and Considering the Choice of Family Medicine: Prescription or Antidote?

Science.gov (United States)

Mauksch, Hans O.; And Others

A study of the choice of specialty by medical students suggests that Family Medicine depends on students whose choice predates medical school; the number of those interested diminishes significantly over the four years. Interviews suggest several characteristics of the medical school that mitigate against the choice of family medicine and steer…

Students? approaches to medical school choice: relationship with students? characteristics and motivation

OpenAIRE

Wouters, Anouk; Croiset, Gerda; Schripsema, Nienke R.; Cohen-Schotanus, Janke; Spaai, Gerard W.G.; Hulsman, Robert L.; Kusurkar, Rashmi A.

2017-01-01

Objectives The aim was to examine main reasons for students? medical school choice and their relationship with students? characteristics and motivation during the students? medical study. Methods In this multisite cross-sectional study, all Year-1 and Year-4 students who had participated in a selection procedure in one of the three Dutch medical schools included in the study were invited to complete an online survey comprising personal data, their main reason for medical school choice and sta...

The Impact of Lottery Incentives on Student Survey Response Rates.

Science.gov (United States)

Porter, Stephen R.; Whitcomb, Michael E.

2003-01-01

A controlled experiment tested the effects of lottery incentives using a prospective college applicant Web survey, with emails sent to more than 9,000 high school students. Found minimal effect of postpaid incentives for increasing levels of incentive. (EV)

Factors associated with the choice of public health service among nursing students in Thailand.

Science.gov (United States)

Sawaengdee, Krisada; Pudpong, Nareerut; Wisaijohn, Thunthita; Suphanchaimat, Rapeepong; Putthasri, Weerasak; Lagarde, Mylene; Blaauw, Duane

2017-01-01

Despite the fact that public and private nursing schools have contributed significantly to the Thai health system, it is not clear whether and to what extent there was difference in job preferences between types of training institutions. This study aimed to examine attitudes towards rural practice, intention to work in public service after graduation, and factors affecting workplace selection among nursing students in both public and private institutions. A descriptive comparative cross-sectional survey was conducted among 3349 students from 36 nursing schools (26 public and 10 private) during February-March 2012, using a questionnaire to assess the association between training institution characteristics and students' attitudes, job choices, and intention to work in the public sector upon graduation. Comparisons between school types were done using ANOVA, and Bonferroni-adjusted multiple comparisons tests. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to construct a composite rural attitude index ( 14 questions). Cronbach's alpha was used to examine the internal consistency of the scales, and ANOVA was then used to determine the differences. These relationships were further investigated through multiple regression. A higher proportion of public nursing students (86.4% from the Ministry of Public Health and 74.1% from the Ministry of Education) preferred working in the public sector, compared to 32.4% of students from the private sector ( p  = public nursing schools were less motivated by financial incentive regarding workplace choices relative to students trained by private institutions. To increase nursing workforce in the public sector, the following policy options should be promoted: 1) recruiting more students with a rural upbringing, 2) nurturing good attitudes towards working in rural areas through appropriate training at schools, 3) providing government scholarships for private students in exchange for compulsory work in rural areas, and 4) providing a

School Choice and Inequalities in Post-Apartheid South Africa

Science.gov (United States)

Ndimande, Bekisizwe S.

2016-01-01

This paper examines the consequences of the new policies of school choice in post-apartheid South Africa and the reasons they have largely failed to achieve greater educational equality--their stated purpose. I argue that the dominant reason for this lies in the continuing inadequate resources of many poor schools and the failure to address them.…

What factors influence UK medical students' choice of foundation school?

Science.gov (United States)

Miah, Saiful; Pang, Karl H; Rebello, Wayne; Rubakumar, Zoe; Fung, Victoria; Venugopal, Suresh; Begum, Hena

2017-01-01

We aimed to identify the factors influencing UK medical student applicants' choice of foundation school. We also explored the factors that doctors currently approaching the end of their 2-year program believe should be considered. A cross-sectional study was conducted during the 2013-2014 academic year. An online questionnaire was distributed to 2092 final-year medical students from nine UK medical schools and 84 foundation year-2 (FY2) doctors from eight foundation schools. Participants were asked to rank their top 3 from a list of 12 factors that could potentially influence choice of foundation school on a 5-point Likert scale. Collated categorical data from the two groups were compared using a chi-square test with Yates correction. Geographic location was overwhelmingly the most important factor for medical students and FY2 doctors with 97.2% and 98.8% in agreement, respectively. Social relationships played a pivotal role for medical student applicants. Clinical specialties within the rotations were of less importance to medical students, in comparison to location and social relationships. In contrast, FY2 doctors placed a significantly greater importance on the specialties undertaken in their 2-year training program, when compared to medical students (chi-square; p =0.0001). UK medical schools should make their foundation program applicants aware of the importance of choosing rotations based on specialties that will be undertaken. Individual foundation schools could provide a more favorable linked application system and greater choice and flexibility of specialties within their 2-year program, potentially making their institution more attractive to future applicants.

The High Cost of Failing to Reform Public Education in Missouri. School Choice Issues in the State

Science.gov (United States)

Gottlob, Brian J.

2006-01-01

As a large body of high-quality research has emerged in the past few years showing that school choice benefits the students who use it, much of the debate has shifted to the "public" or "social" effects of school choice. This study examines how school choice in Missouri would raise high school graduation rates, and measures the…

School Choice and the Pressure To Perform: Deja Vu for Children with Disabilities?

Science.gov (United States)

Howe, Kenneth R.; Welner, Kevin G.

2002-01-01

This article examines the tension between the principles underlying the inclusion of students with disabilities and those underlying school choice, particularly market competition and parental autonomy. It examines findings from five states and a case study of a school-choice system that indicate the exclusion of students with disabilities.…

School Choice: Private School Choice Programs Are Growing and Can Complicate Providing Certain Federally Funded Services to Eligible Students. Report to Congressional Requesters. GAO-16-712

Science.gov (United States)

US Government Accountability Office, 2016

2016-01-01

Voucher and education savings account (ESA) programs fund students' private school education expenses, such as tuition. In school year 2014-15, 22 such school choice programs were operating nationwide, all but one of which was state funded. Under two federal grant programs, one for students with disabilities and one for students from disadvantaged…

Science choices and preferences of middle and secondary school students in Utah

Science.gov (United States)

Baird, J. Hugh; Lazarowitz, Reuven; Allman, Verl

This research sought to answer two questions: (1) What are Utah junior and senior high school students' preferences and choices regarding science subjects? (2) Could preferences and choices be related to the type of school, age or gender? Two thousand students from grades six through twelve participated in this study. Findings show that zoology and human anatomy and physiology were most preferred. Ecology was least prefered. Topics in the physical sciences were also low. There was a trend among girls to prefer natural sciences such as botany while boys tended to prefer the physical sciences. Generally, students' choices were limited to those subjects presently taught in the formal school curriculum. They appeared unaware of the many science related subjects outside the texts or the approved course of study.

School Choice in an English Village: Living, Loyalty and Leaving

Science.gov (United States)

Bagley, Carl; Hillyard, Sam

2015-01-01

In late modernity, the marketisation of public services has become a global policy phenomenon. In the case of schooling, this has resulted in parents discursively positioned as consumers of education making a choice between providers of education. To date the majority of research on parental choice has focused on the urban; this paper is concerned…

Spiral of Decline or "Beacon of Hope": Stories of School Choice in a Dual Language School

Science.gov (United States)

Pearson, Timothy; Wolgemuth, Jennifer R.; Colomer, Soria E.

2015-01-01

Public schools in some areas of the U.S. are as segregated as they were prior to court-ordered busing, in part due to school choice policies that appear to exacerbate extant segregation. In particular, Latina/o students are increasingly isolated in schools characterized as being in cycles of decline. Our case study of one such school is based on a…

Empowering Parents' Choice of Schools: The Rhetoric and Reality of How Hong Kong Kindergarten Parents Choose Schools under the Voucher Scheme

Science.gov (United States)

Fung, Kit-Ho Chanel; Lam, Chi-Chung

2011-01-01

School choice gives parents greater power over their children's education. But ever since the Pre-primary Education Voucher Scheme (PEVS) was introduced in Hong Kong in 2007, school choice has become a hotly debated topic. The scheme was introduced to empower kindergarten parents in choosing a school for their children by offering them direct fee…

Preventing School Employee Sexual Misconduct: An Outcome Survey Analysis of Making Right Choices.

Science.gov (United States)

Lipson, Glenn; Grant, Billie-Jo; Mueller, Jessica; Sonnich, Steve

2018-05-30

This treatment-only study examines the impact of Making Right Choices, an online course prevention program designed to promote the knowledge, awareness, and prevention of school employee sexual misconduct. The sample included 13,007 school employee participants who took the Making Right Choices course between May 6, 2011, and March 12, 2017, in California and New York. The 20-item measure, Preventing Misconduct Assessment, was administered to participants at the end of the online course; completion of the measure was voluntary. Descriptive statistics revealed that a large majority of participants reported increasing their knowledge and awareness of school employee sexual misconduct because of their participation in the Making Right Choices online course. This study yields important findings regarding the impact of a sexual misconduct prevention program and, specifically, the difference it may make for non-licensed school employees. These findings indicate that school employees are accepting of sexual misconduct training programs and rate them as having value.

What factors influence UK medical students’ choice of foundation school?

Science.gov (United States)

Miah, Saiful; Pang, Karl H; Rebello, Wayne; Rubakumar, Zoe; Fung, Victoria; Venugopal, Suresh; Begum, Hena

2017-01-01

Background We aimed to identify the factors influencing UK medical student applicants’ choice of foundation school. We also explored the factors that doctors currently approaching the end of their 2-year program believe should be considered. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted during the 2013–2014 academic year. An online questionnaire was distributed to 2092 final-year medical students from nine UK medical schools and 84 foundation year-2 (FY2) doctors from eight foundation schools. Participants were asked to rank their top 3 from a list of 12 factors that could potentially influence choice of foundation school on a 5-point Likert scale. Collated categorical data from the two groups were compared using a chi-square test with Yates correction. Results Geographic location was overwhelmingly the most important factor for medical students and FY2 doctors with 97.2% and 98.8% in agreement, respectively. Social relationships played a pivotal role for medical student applicants. Clinical specialties within the rotations were of less importance to medical students, in comparison to location and social relationships. In contrast, FY2 doctors placed a significantly greater importance on the specialties undertaken in their 2-year training program, when compared to medical students (chi-square; p=0.0001). Conclusion UK medical schools should make their foundation program applicants aware of the importance of choosing rotations based on specialties that will be undertaken. Individual foundation schools could provide a more favorable linked application system and greater choice and flexibility of specialties within their 2-year program, potentially making their institution more attractive to future applicants. PMID:28458589

Strategy-proof social choice

OpenAIRE

Barberà, Salvador, 1946-

2010-01-01

This paper surveys the literature on strategy-proofness from a historical perspective. While I discuss the connections with other works on incentives in mechanism design, the main emphasis is on social choice models. This article has been prepared for the Handbook of Social Choice and Welfare, Volume 2, Edited by K. Arrow, A. Sen and K. Suzumura

Avoiding the "Inexorable Push toward Homogenization" in School Choice: Education Savings Accounts as Hedges against Institutional Isomorphism

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Burke, Lindsey M.

2016-01-01

The assumption that rational choice dynamics will lead to diversity of school supply is at the heart of K-12 school choice arrangements. Yet as the field of school choice becomes more established, there will be the "inexorable push toward homogenization." If vouchers, tuition tax credit scholarships, and education savings accounts become…

Recruiting "Talent": School Choice and Teacher Hiring in New Orleans

Science.gov (United States)

Jabbar, Huriya

2018-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine school leaders' preferences and practices in an environment of widespread decentralization, privatization, and school choice. In New Orleans, such reforms have been enacted citywide since Hurricane Katrina, making it an ideal site to examine what happens when policy makers lift restrictions for…

A unifying Bayesian account of contextual effects in value-based choice.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Francesco Rigoli

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Empirical evidence suggests the incentive value of an option is affected by other options available during choice and by options presented in the past. These contextual effects are hard to reconcile with classical theories and have inspired accounts where contextual influences play a crucial role. However, each account only addresses one or the other of the empirical findings and a unifying perspective has been elusive. Here, we offer a unifying theory of context effects on incentive value attribution and choice based on normative Bayesian principles. This formulation assumes that incentive value corresponds to a precision-weighted prediction error, where predictions are based upon expectations about reward. We show that this scheme explains a wide range of contextual effects, such as those elicited by other options available during choice (or within-choice context effects. These include both conditions in which choice requires an integration of multiple attributes and conditions where a multi-attribute integration is not necessary. Moreover, the same scheme explains context effects elicited by options presented in the past or between-choice context effects. Our formulation encompasses a wide range of contextual influences (comprising both within- and between-choice effects by calling on Bayesian principles, without invoking ad-hoc assumptions. This helps clarify the contextual nature of incentive value and choice behaviour and may offer insights into psychopathologies characterized by dysfunctional decision-making, such as addiction and pathological gambling.

Can Public Transportation Improve Students' Access to Denver's Best Schools of Choice?

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Gross, Bethany; Denice, Patrick

2017-01-01

Transportation remains a vexing concern in cities that offer students school choice. Time and again, research has shown that families typically want high-performing schools or schools with unique academic programs. But those schools tend to be concentrated in a city's affluent neighborhoods, often long distances from low-income households and…

How Do Marginalized Families Engage in School Choice in Inequitable Urban Landscapes? A Critical Geographic Approach

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Yoon, Ee-Seul; Lubienski, Christopher

2017-01-01

The normalization of school choice in the education system is purported to provide more schooling options for all families, particularly those who do not have the means to move into affluent areas with "better" schools. Nonetheless, it is still unclear to what extent the policy of school choice has been effective in achieving the goal of…

A Case Study of School Choice and Special Education in the 21st Century

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Bernier, Lisa E.

2017-01-01

School choice is deeply rooted in the marketization theories originally presented by Milton Friedman in the 1950s. There are many school choice options available in Arizona. The purpose and primary research question of this case study explored how a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) and other factors influenced the parents' decisions to…

The effect of policy incentives on electric vehicle adoption

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Langbroek, Joram H.M.; Franklin, Joel P.; Susilo, Yusak O.

2016-01-01

In order to increase the attractiveness of electric vehicles (EVs), packages of policy incentives are provided in many countries. However, it is still unclear how effective different policy incentives are. Also, it is questionable that they have the same impact on different groups of people. In this study, based on a stated-choice experiment, the effect of several potential policy incentives on EV-adoption, as well as the influence of socio-psychological determinants are investigated, using constructs of the Transtheoretical Model of Change (TTM) and the Protection Motivation Theory (PMT). The probability of stated EV-adoption increases if policy incentives are offered in the choice experiment, which is expected because of the decrease of the generalized cost of EV-use. The high stated valuation of free parking or access to bus lanes makes those incentives an efficient alternative to expensive subsidies. EV-adoption probability increases for people that are further in the process of behavioural change. However, the responsiveness to subsidies decreases for people in more advanced stages-of-change. People that believe EVs to be effective in decreasing the negative externalities of the current transport system and people whose travel patterns can cope with the use of EVs also have a higher probability to choose the EV. - Highlights: •Policy incentives have a positive influence on electric vehicle adoption. •Being in advanced stages-of-change to EV-adoption increases likelihood to adopt EVs. •People in more advanced stages-of-change to EV-adoption are less price-sensitive. •People with a high self-efficacy and response efficacy are more likely to adopt EVs.

The Australian Education Union: A History of Opposing School Choice and School Autonomy Down-Under

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Donnelly, Kevin

2015-01-01

In this article, I chronicle the recent history of efforts to broaden school choice in the Commonwealth of Australia and the opposition to these efforts put forth by Australia's largest teacher union, the Australian Education Union (AEU). Evidence is presented on the positive effects that flow from the public funding of nongovernment schools and…

Agent-Based Simulation of School Choice in Bandung, Indonesia: The Emergence of Enrolment Pattern Trough Individual Preferences

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Dhanan Sarwo Utomo

2012-01-01

Full Text Available This study is motivated by the reality that school choice programs that is currently implemented in Bandung that, always resulting student deficit (lack of student in some schools. In this study, a mechanism that can describe how the enrollment pattern in a school choice program emerge as a result of individual preferences of the prospective students, is constructed. Using computer simulation, virtual experiments are conducted. In these experiments, the enrollment patterns and the number of student deficit that were resulted by various school choice program configurations are analyzed. Based on the experiment results, modification of the current program that can minimize the number of student deficit can be purposed.Keywords: agent-based simulation, school choice, computer simulation

75 FR 8854 - Teacher Incentive Fund Program

Science.gov (United States)

2010-02-26

..., evaluation, retention, and advancement into instructional leadership roles. When the PBCS's implementation... responsibilities and leadership roles; and (4) Include helping teachers and principals to better understand and use... high-need schools by creating incentives for effective teachers and principals in these schools. DATES...

Universal health insurance through incentives reform.

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Enthoven, A C; Kronick, R

1991-05-15

Roughly 35 million Americans have no health care coverage. Health care expenditures are out of control. The problems of access and cost are inextricably related. Important correctable causes include cost-unconscious demand, a system not organized for quality and economy, market failure, and public funds not distributed equitably or effectively to motivate widespread coverage. We propose Public Sponsor agencies to offer subsidized coverage to those otherwise uninsured, mandated employer-provided health insurance, premium contributions from all employers and employees, a limit on tax-free employer contributions to employee health insurance, and "managed competition". Our proposed new government revenues equal proposed new outlays. We believe our proposal will work because efficient managed care does exist and can provide satisfactory care for a cost far below that of the traditional fee-for-service third-party payment system. Presented with an opportunity to make an economically responsible choice, people choose value for money; the dynamic created by these individual choices will give providers strong incentives to render high-quality, economical care. We believe that providers will respond to these incentives.

Choice and privatisation in Swedish primary care.

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Anell, Anders

2011-10-01

In 2007, a new wave of local reforms involving choice for the population and privatisation of providers was initiated in Swedish primary care. Important objectives behind reforms were to strengthen the role of primary care and to improve performance in terms of access and responsiveness. The purpose of this article was to compare the characteristics of the new models and to discuss changes in financial incentives for providers and challenges regarding governance from the part of county councils. A majority of the models being introduced across the 21 county councils can best be described as innovative combinations between a comprehensive responsibility for providers and significant degrees of freedom regarding choice for the population. Key financial characteristics of fixed payment and comprehensive financial responsibility for providers may create financial incentives to under-provide care. Informed choices by the population, in combination with reasonably low barriers for providers to enter the primary care market, should theoretically counterbalance such incentives. To facilitate such competition is indeed a challenge, not only because of difficulties in implementing informed choices but also because the new models favour large and/or horizontally integrated providers. To prevent monopolistic behaviour, county councils may have to accept more competition as well as more governance over clinical practice than initially intended.

Determinants of School Choice: Understanding How Parents Choose Elementary Schools in Alberta

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Bosetti, Lynn

2004-01-01

Rational choice theory suggests that parents are utility maximizers who make decisions from clear value preferences, that they are able to demand effective action from local schools and teachers, and that they can be relied upon to pursue the best interests of their children. This paper presents a different perspective and argues that parents…

Intergovernmental (Dis)incentives, Free-Riding, Teacher Salaries and Teacher Pensions

OpenAIRE

Maria D. Fitzpatrick

2014-01-01

In this paper, I document evidence that intergovernmental incentives inherent in public sector defined benefit pension systems distort the amount and timing of income for public school teachers. This intergovernmental incentive stems from the fact that, in many states, local school districts are responsible for setting the compensation that determines the size of pensions, but are not required to make contributions to cover the resulting pension fund liabilities. I use the introduction of a p...

What factors influence UK medical students’ choice of foundation school?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Miah S

2017-04-01

Full Text Available Saiful Miah,1,2 Karl H Pang,3 Wayne Rebello,4 Zoe Rubakumar,4 Victoria Fung,5 Suresh Venugopal,6 Hena Begum4 1Division of Surgery and Interventional science, University College London, London, UK; 2Department of Urology, Charing Cross Hospital Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, London, UK; 3Academic Urology Unit, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK; 4Medical School, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK; 5Department of Plastic Surgery, Royal Hallamshire Hospital, Sheffield, UK; 6Department of Urology, Chesterfield Royal Infirmary, Chesterfield, UK Background: We aimed to identify the factors influencing UK medical student applicants’ choice of foundation school. We also explored the factors that doctors currently approaching the end of their 2-year program believe should be considered. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted during the 2013–2014 academic year. An online questionnaire was distributed to 2092 final-year medical students from nine UK medical schools and 84 foundation year-2 (FY2 doctors from eight foundation schools. Participants were asked to rank their top 3 from a list of 12 factors that could potentially influence choice of foundation school on a 5-point Likert scale. Collated categorical data from the two groups were compared using a chi-square test with Yates correction. Results: Geographic location was overwhelmingly the most important factor for medical students and FY2 doctors with 97.2% and 98.8% in agreement, respectively. Social relationships played a pivotal role for medical student applicants. Clinical specialties within the rotations were of less importance to medical students, in comparison to location and social relationships. In contrast, FY2 doctors placed a significantly greater importance on the specialties undertaken in their 2-year training program, when compared to medical students (chi-square; p=0.0001. Conclusion: UK medical schools should make their foundation program applicants aware

Analyzing The Impacts of the Biogas-to-Electricity Purchase Incentives on Electric Vehicle Deployment with the MA3T Vehicle Choice Model

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Podkaminer, Kara [U.S. Department of Energy (DOE); Xie, Fei [ORNL; Lin, Zhenhong [ORNL

2017-01-01

This analysis represents the biogas-to-electricity pathway under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) as a point of purchase incentive and tests the impact of this incentive on EV deployment using a vehicle consumer choice model. The credit value generated under this policy was calculated in a number of scenarios based on electricity use of each power train choice on a yearly basis over the 15 year vehicle lifetime, accounting for the average electric vehicle miles travelled and vehicle efficiency, competition for biogas-derived electricity among electric vehicles (EVs), the RIN equivalence value and the time value of money. The credit value calculation in each of these scenarios is offered upfront as a point of purchase incentive for EVs using the Market Acceptance of Advanced Automotive Technologies (MA3T) vehicle choice model, which tracks sales, fleet size and energy use over time. The majority of the scenarios use a proposed RIN equivalence value, which increases the credit value as a way to explore the analysis space. Additional model runs show the relative impact of the equivalence value on EV deployment. The MA3T model output shows that a consumer incentive accelerates the deployment of EVs for all scenarios relative to the baseline (no policy) case. In the scenario modeled to represent the current biogas-to-electricity generation capacity (15 TWh/year) with a 5.24kWh/RIN equivalence value, the policy leads to an additional 1.4 million plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) and 3.5 million battery electric vehicles (BEVs) in 2025 beyond the no-policy case of 1.3 million PHEVs and 2.1 million BEVs when the full value of the credit is passed on to the consumer. In 2030, this increases to 2.4 million PHEVs and 7.3 million BEVs beyond the baseline. This larger impact on BEVs relative to PHEVs is due in part to the larger credit that BEVs receive in the model based on the greater percentage of electric vehicle miles traveled by BEVs relative to PHEVs. In this

Can school choice improve more than just academic achievement? An analysis of post-Katrina New Orleans.

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Hutchinson, Paul L; Ferrell, Natalie; Broussard, Marsha; Brown, Lisanne; Chrestman, Sarah K

2014-04-01

Recent evaluations of school choice school reforms have focused on improving academic achievement but have ignored associations with adolescent health and the risk of interpersonal violence. The innovative school choice model implemented in post-Katrina New Orleans provides a unique opportunity to examine these effects. Using a sample of approximately 1700 students from the 2009 School Health Connection Survey, the relationships between the type of school attended and depression, suicide planning, absences attributable to fears for personal safety, and threats of violence at school are examined. Multivariate regression analysis adjusting for self-selection into the type of school attended-a city-run high-performing school, a state-run failing school, or an independent charter school-estimates the effects of school type on student health. Relative to students at state-run schools, students who choose to attend city-run schools are less likely to plan for suicide or to miss school because they are afraid of becoming victims of violence. These beneficial effects tend to be larger for students traveling from higher violence neighborhoods. The effects for charter schools are similar but less robust. Local school jurisdictions that implement reforms allowing adolescents and their families greater freedom in school choice may also improve adolescent health. © 2014, American School Health Association.

Teachers’ Working Conditions Amid Swedish School Choice Reform: Avenues for Further Research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Karolina Åsa Parding

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Since the 1990s, governance changes, including customer choice agendas, have permeated the public sector and, consequently, welfare sector professionals’ work. One example is the education sector. The aim of this paper is to identify and discuss avenues for further research when it comes to teachers’ working conditions in the light of current choice agendas. This is accomplished by presenting an overview of previous studies on implications of the reforms for teachers’ working conditions. How are these conditions described in relation to the current school choice agenda in Sweden? What directions should be applied to increase knowledge of these conditions? We conclude by identifying some avenues for further research: the issues of organization of work, temporal and spatial dimensions of working conditions, and finally comparative studies of various forms, are suggested as warranting further investigation to highlight the diversified labor market in which teachers find themselves today.Keywords: Competition, governance change, privatization, professional work, school choice, Sweden, teaching profession, working conditions

When Public Acts Like Private: The Failure of Estonia's School Choice Mechanism

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Poder, Kaire; Lauri, Triin

2014-01-01

This article aims to show the segregating effect of the market-like matching of students and schools at the basic school level. The natural experiment case is Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. The current school choice mechanism applied in this case is based on entrance tests. There are increasingly over-subscribed intra-catchment area public…

School Choice, Gentrification, and the Variable Significance of Racial Stratification in Urban Neighborhoods

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Pearman, Francis A., III; Swain, Walker A.

2017-01-01

Racial and socioeconomic stratification have long governed patterns of residential sorting in the American metropolis. However, recent expansions of school choice policies that allow parents to select schools outside their neighborhood raise questions as to whether this weakening of the neighborhood-school connection might influence the…

Regulatory Incentives and Disincentives for Utility Investments in Grid Modernization

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Kihm, Steve [Seventhware, Madison, WI (United States); Beecher, Janice [Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, MI (United States). Inst. of Public Utilities; Lehr, Ronald L.

2017-05-31

Electric power is America's most capital-intensive industry, with more than $100 billion invested each year in energy infrastructure. Investment needs are likely to grow as electric utilities make power systems more reliable and resilient, deploy advanced digital technologies, and facilitate new services to meet some consumers' expectations for greater choice and control. But do current regulatory approaches provide the appropriate incentives for grid modernization investments? This report presents three perspectives: -Financial analyst Steve Kihm begins by explaining that any major investor-owned electric utility that wants to raise capital today can do so at a reasonable cost. The question is whether utility managers want to raise capital for grid modernization. Specifically, they look for investments that create the most value for their existing shareholders. In cases where grid modernization investments are not the best choice in terms of shareholder value, Kihm describes shareholder incentive mechanisms that regulators could consider to encourage such investments when they are in the public interest. -From an institutional perspective, Dr. Janice Beecher finds that the traditional rate-base/rate of return regulatory model provides powerful incentives for utilities to pursue investments, cost control, efficiency and even innovation, and it is well suited to the policy objectives of grid modernization. Prudence of grid modernization investments (fair returns) depends on careful evaluation of the specific asset, and any special incentives (bonus returns) should be used only if they promote economic efficiency consistent with the core goals of economic regulation. According to Beecher, realizing the promises of grid modernization depends on effective implementation of the traditional regulatory model and ratemaking tools to serve the public interest. -Conversely, former commissioner and clean energy consultant Ron Lehr says that rapid electric industry

What's in Your Portfolio? How Parents Rank Traditional Public, Private, and Charter Schools in Post-Katrina New Orleans' Citywide System of School Choice

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Lincove, Jane A.; Cowen, Joshua M.; Imbrogno, Jason P.

2018-01-01

We examine the characteristics of schools preferred by parents in New Orleans, Louisiana, where a "portfolio" of school choices is available. This tests the conditions under which school choice induces healthy competition between public and private schools through the threat of student exit. Using unique data from parent applications to…

Biased managers, organizational design, and incentive provision

OpenAIRE

Moreira, Humberto Ataíde; Costa, Cristiano Machado; Ferreira, Daniel Bernardo Soares

2004-01-01

Rio de Janeiro We model the tradeoff between the balance and the strength of incentives implicit in the choice between hierarchical and matrix organizational structures. We show that managerial biases determine which structure is optimal: hierarchical forms are preferred when biases are low, while matrix structures are preferred when biases are high.

The Wisconsin experience with incentives for demand-side management

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Landgren, D.A.

1990-01-01

It has been noted that, within traditional regulatory frameworks for electric utilities, factors exist which discourage demand side management (DSM) and that there is a lack of positive incentives for DSM. Regulatory agencies should therefore make it possible for DSM measures to benefit from the same treatment as supply-side measures. The Wisconsin Public Service Commission (WPSC) has recognized this need and has adopted various measures accordingly. The need for efficiency incentives is described according to the particular experience of Wisconsin Electric concerning their recourse to a DSM incentive and according to new incentive models being tested in collaboration with other electricity suppliers in Wisconsin. The WPSC has concluded that the fact of considering the costs relating to DSM as expenses or capitalizing them within the rate base does not motivate the utility to promote DSM programs. The WPSC has thus decided to experiment with energy efficiency incentives in order to evaluate their eventual impact. The choice of the type of incentive had an objective of starting the process in an area where the lack of experience has created, from the regulatory point of view, a reticence on the part of utilities to engage in DSM programs. The WPSC has designed a variety of incentive models which have been adapted to each utility's own situation. Specific incentive programs developed for three Wisconsin utilities are reviewed

Using Behavioral Economics to Design Physician Incentives That Deliver High-Value Care.

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Emanuel, Ezekiel J; Ubel, Peter A; Kessler, Judd B; Meyer, Gregg; Muller, Ralph W; Navathe, Amol S; Patel, Pankaj; Pearl, Robert; Rosenthal, Meredith B; Sacks, Lee; Sen, Aditi P; Sherman, Paul; Volpp, Kevin G

2016-01-19

Behavioral economics provides insights about the development of effective incentives for physicians to deliver high-value care. It suggests that the structure and delivery of incentives can shape behavior, as can thoughtful design of the decision-making environment. This article discusses several principles of behavioral economics, including inertia, loss aversion, choice overload, and relative social ranking. Whereas these principles have been applied to motivate personal health decisions, retirement planning, and savings behavior, they have been largely ignored in the design of physician incentive programs. Applying these principles to physician incentives can improve their effectiveness through better alignment with performance goals. Anecdotal examples of successful incentive programs that apply behavioral economics principles are provided, even as the authors recognize that its application to the design of physician incentives is largely untested, and many outstanding questions exist. Application and rigorous evaluation of infrastructure changes and incentives are needed to design payment systems that incentivize high-quality, cost-conscious care.

Parental perceptions: a case study of school choice amidst ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This article stems from a case study of parental school choice which was nested within a longitudinal .... which solidly advocates maintenance if not also development of home languages in .... urban region in South Africa where the language of instruction has become English. ..... Am Main: Multilingualism Network. Heugh K ...

Human capital and risk aversion in relational incentive contracts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kvaloey, Ola

2003-01-01

This paper examines a self-enforced relational incentive contract between a risk neutral principal and a risk averse agent where the agent's human capital is essential in ex post realization of values. I analyse the effect of outside options on the optimal bonus level, showing how the presence of ex post outside options may impede desirable degrees of performance pay. The effect of risk aversion and incentive responsiveness is analysed by allowing for linear contracts. I show that the first order effect of these parameters are the same as in verifiable contracts, but second order effects show that the optimal bonus level's sensitivity to risk aversion and incentive responsiveness increases with the discount factor. The analysis has interesting implications on firm boundaries and specificity choices. (author)

A Cross-National Analysis of the Relations of School Choice and Effectiveness Differences between Private-Dependent and Public Schools

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Dronkers, Jaap; Avram, Silvia

2010-01-01

We apply propensity score matching to the estimation of differential school effectiveness between the publicly funded private sector and the public sector in a sample of 26 countries. This technique allows us to distinguish between school choice and school effectiveness processes and thus to account for selectivity issues involved in the…

Nutrition Knowledge and Food Choices of Elementary School Children.

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Kandiah, Jay; Jones, Charlotte

2002-01-01

Investigated the effect of a 3-week school-based nutrition education program on nutrition knowledge and healthy food choices of fifth graders randomly assigned to experimental or control group. Found that the experimental group exhibited a significant increase in nutrition knowledge from pretest to posttest and significant change in compliance in…

Does School Choice Increase the Rate of Youth Entrepreneurship?

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Sobel, Russell S.; King, Kerry A.

2008-01-01

Because entrepreneurial activity is a key source of economic growth, promoting youth entrepreneurship has become a priority for policymakers. School choice programs force administrators and teachers to be more entrepreneurial in their jobs by encouraging innovation and by creating competition and a more business-like environment in K-12 education.…

School Quality and Social Stratification: The Determinants and Consequences of Parental School Choice.

Science.gov (United States)

Glazerman, Steven M.

Those who favor expansion of consumer choice in education claim that competition would force schools to improve. Critics claim that it would sort students by race and class. A competitive market will provide what consumers demand, yet neither side has empirical evidence on such consumer preferences to back up their claims. This paper offers such…

The New Orleans OneApp: Centralized Enrollment Matches Students and Schools of Choice

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Harris, Douglas N.; Valant, Jon; Gross, Betheny

2015-01-01

In most of the U.S., the process for assigning children to public schools is straightforward: take a student's home address, determine which school serves that address, and assign the student accordingly. However, states and cities are increasingly providing families with school choices. A key question facing policymakers is exactly how to place…

Financial Incentives to Promote Active Travel

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Martin, Adam; Suhrcke, Marc; Ogilvie, David

2012-01-01

Context Financial incentives, including taxes and subsidies, can be used to encourage behavior change. They are common in transport policy for tackling externalities associated with use of motor vehicles, and in public health for influencing alcohol consumption and smoking behaviors. Financial incentives also offer policymakers a compromise between “nudging,” which may be insufficient for changing habitual behavior, and regulations that restrict individual choice. Evidence acquisition The literature review identified studies published between January 1997 and January 2012 of financial incentives relating to any mode of travel in which the impact on active travel, physical activity, or obesity levels was reported. It encompassed macroenvironmental schemes, such as gasoline taxes, and microenvironmental schemes, such as employer-subsidized bicycles. Five relevant reviews and 20 primary studies (of which nine were not included in the reviews) were identified. Evidence synthesis The results show that more-robust evidence is required if policymakers are to maximize the health impact of fiscal policy relating to transport schemes of this kind. Conclusions Drawing on a literature review and insights from the SLOTH (sleep, leisure, occupation, transportation, and home-based activities) time-budget model, this paper argues that financial incentives may have a larger role in promoting walking and cycling than is acknowledged generally. PMID:23159264

Dissociable contributions of the human amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex to incentive motivation and goal selection.

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Arana, F Sergio; Parkinson, John A; Hinton, Elanor; Holland, Anthony J; Owen, Adrian M; Roberts, Angela C

2003-10-22

Theories of incentive motivation attempt to capture the way in which objects and events in the world can acquire high motivational value and drive behavior, even in the absence of a clear biological need. In addition, for an individual to select the most appropriate goal, the incentive values of competing desirable objects need to be defined and compared. The present study examined the neural substrates by which appetitive incentive value influences prospective goal selection, using positron emission tomographic neuroimaging in humans. Sated subjects were shown a series of restaurant menus that varied in incentive value, specifically tailored for each individual, and in half the trials, were asked to make a selection from the menu. The amygdala was activated by high-incentive menus regardless of whether a choice was required. Indeed, activity in this region varied as a function of individual subjective ratings of incentive value. In contrast, distinct regions of the orbitofrontal cortex were recruited both during incentive judgments and goal selection. Activity in the medial orbital cortex showed a greater response to high-incentive menus and when making a choice, with the latter activity also correlating with subjective ratings of difficulty. Lateral orbitofrontal activity was observed selectively when participants had to suppress responses to alternative desirable items to select their most preferred. Taken together, these data highlight the differential contribution of the amygdala and regions within the orbitofrontal cortex in a neural system underlying the selection of goals based on the prospective incentive value of stimuli, over and above homeostatic influences.

Middle School Administrators’ Beliefs and Choices about Using Corporal Punishment and Exclusionary Discipline

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kennedy, Brianna L.; Murphy, Amy S.; Jordan, Adam

2017-01-01

This grounded theory study of how Title I middle school administrators determine students’ punishments was developed using interviews with 27 Florida administrators from schools allowing corporal punishment. Administrators’ choices were shaped by their upbringings, their experiences as parents,

Religious Values and Tuition Vouchers: An Empirical Case Study of Parent Religiosity as a Factor of School Choice

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Reichard, Joshua D.

2012-01-01

This study was designed to determine whether parent religiosity is a statistically significant school choice factor. The Duke University Religion Index (DUREL) was administered to 215 parents in an urban, PreK-12 religious private school that participated in the Ohio Educational Choice (EdChoice) voucher program. The null hypothesis that there was…

Financial Incentives and Student Achievement: Evidence from Randomized Trials. NBER Working Paper No. 15898

Science.gov (United States)

Fryer, Roland G., Jr.

2010-01-01

This paper describes a series of school-based randomized trials in over 250 urban schools designed to test the impact of financial incentives on student achievement. In stark contrast to simple economic models, our results suggest that student incentives increase achievement when the rewards are given for inputs to the educational production…

The Economics of School Choice. A National Bureau of Economic Research Conference Report.

Science.gov (United States)

Hoxby, Caroline M., Ed.

This collection of essays grew out of a series of conferences held by the National Bureau of Economic Research on school finance, public economics, and school choice. After an introduction by Carolyn M. Hoxby, the papers are: (1) "Does Public School Competition Affect Teacher Quality?" (Eric A. Hanushek and Steven G. Rivkin); (2) "Can School…

An Economic Analysis of Identity and Career Choice

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Humlum, Maria Knoth; Kleinjans, Kristin J.; Nielsen, Helena Skyt

2007-01-01

Standard economic models which focus on pecuniary payoffs cannot explain why there are highly able individuals who choose careers with low pecuniary re- turns. Therefore, financial incentives are unlikely to be effective in influencing career choices of these individuals. Based on Akerlof...... and Kranton (2000), we con- sider a model of career choice and identity where individuals derive non-pecuniary identity payoffs. Using factor analysis on a range of attitude questions, we find two factors related to identity (career orientation and social orientation), which are important for educational...... choices. The implication is that policymakers and institutions of higher education need to focus on identity related issues rather than just improved financial incentives if they aim at attracting the high ability youth to occupations with excess demand for labor....

Incentives, behavioral biases, and risk taking

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Pikulina, E.S.

2014-01-01

While economists believe that monetary incentives provide the most powerful motivation for individuals to undertake an activity, major schools in psychology and sociology emphasize the motives coming from within the individual and from the personal and cultural differences among individuals. This

Trends in the Use of School Choice: 1993 to 2007. Statistical Analysis Report. NCES 2010-004

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Grady, Sarah; Bielick, Stacey; Aud, Susan

2010-01-01

This report updates two previous reports: "Trends in the Use of School Choice: 1993 to 1999" (Bielick and Chapman 2003) and "Trends in the Use of School Choice: 1993 to 2003" (Tice et al. 2006). Using data from the National Household Education Survey (NHES) of the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education…

An Empirical Evaluation of the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program. School Choice Issues in the State

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Forster, Greg; D'Andrea, Christian

2009-01-01

This study examines the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship program, one of the nation's largest school choice programs. It is the first ever completed empirical evaluation of a tax-credit scholarship program, a type of program that creates school choice through the tax code. Earlier reports, including a recent one on the Florida program, have not…

Whose Choice?: Student Experiences and Outcomes in the New Orleans School Marketplace

Science.gov (United States)

Adamson, Frank; Cook-Harvey, Channa; Darling-Hammond, Linda

2015-01-01

As charters and other public and private schools of choice have created a new landscape in many urban areas across the country, some districts have adopted the idea of creating "portfolios" of options. Central to the philosophy of a portfolio district is continuous improvement, as lowest-performing schools are transformed or replaced.…

Effect of Non Financial Incentives on Job Satisfaction of Teachers in Public Secondary Schools--Survey of Kisii Sub County

Science.gov (United States)

Sabina, Asiago Lenah; Okibo, Walter; Nyang'au, Andrew; Ondima, Cleophas

2015-01-01

Job satisfaction is a major challenge among employees in many organizations. The purpose of this research project is to assess the effect of non-financial incentives on job satisfaction of teachers in public secondary schools of Kisii Sub County in the Republic of Kenya. The specific objectives for the study include: to assess the effect of…

Diversity and Choice in School Education: A Modified Libertarian Approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Hargreaves, David H.

1996-01-01

Argues from a modified libertarian position that diversity and choice in school education are desirable unless some convincing argument and evidence can be shown that the costs greatly outweigh the benefits and any costs incurred cannot be reduced or overcome by limited state intervention. (MJP)

The Inequalities in School Choice in Spain in Accordance to PISA Data

Science.gov (United States)

Escardibul, Josep-Oriol; Villarroya, Anna

2009-01-01

In Spain as in other European countries, policies on school choice have been implemented in tandem with the channelling of public resources into private education. Given the application of public money to private schooling, the primary objective of this paper is to analyse the extent to which Spanish families enjoy equality in their ability to…

Embracing Pedagogical Pluralism:An Educator's Case for (at Least Public School Choice

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David J. Ferrero

2003-08-01

Full Text Available Pedagogical and curricular beliefs and commitments are expressions of deeper philosophical and ideological worldviews that empirical research can sometimes modify but not ultimately eliminate. The pluralism these views produce is reasonable in that they all represent plausible interpretations of liberal-republican values and professional standards of practice; they should be granted some room to flourish under a system of carefully regulated autonomy and choice. Three objections to a conception of school choice grounded in a notion of reasonable pluralism among educational doctrines are addressed: 1 that it would undermine educators' efforts to secure status for themselves as professionals by admitting that “best practices” in education offer rough guidance at best; 2 that it would leave parents and students vulnerable to quackery; 3 that it abandons the common school tradition and its aspirations. I conclude with an examination of why the conceptual basis on which a society designs a system of choice makes a difference.

Net costs of health worker rural incentive packages: an example from the Lao People's Democratic Republic.

Science.gov (United States)

Keuffel, Eric; Jaskiewicz, Wanda; Paphassarang, Chanthakhath; Tulenko, Kate

2013-11-01

Many developing countries are examining whether to institute incentive packages that increase the share of health workers who opt to locate in rural settings; however, uncertainty exists with respect to the expected net cost (or benefit) from these packages. We utilize the findings from the discrete choice experiment surveys applied to students training to be health professionals and costing analyses in Lao People's Democratic Republic to model the anticipated effect of incentive packages on new worker location decisions and direct costs. Incorporating evidence on health worker density and health outcomes, we then estimate the expected 5-year net cost (or benefit) of each incentive packages for 3 health worker cadres--physicians, nurses/midwives, and medical assistants. Under base case assumptions, the optimal incentive package for each cadre produced a 5-year net benefit (maximum net benefit for physicians: US$ 44,000; nurses/midwives: US$ 5.6 million; medical assistants: US$ 485,000). After accounting for health effects, the expected net cost of select incentive packages would be substantially less than the original estimate of direct costs. In the case of Lao People's Democratic Republic, incentive packages that do not invest in capital-intensive components generally should produce larger net benefits. Combining discrete choice experiment surveys, costing surveys and cost-benefit analysis methods may be replicated by other developing countries to calculate whether health worker incentive packages are viable policy options.

De controller als choice architect

NARCIS (Netherlands)

V.S. Maas (Victor)

2012-01-01

textabstractManagement accountants are choice architects: they provide information that is used in managerial decision making and they have considerable influence on the monetary and non-monetary incentives that drive managers’ decision-making processes. Over the past two decades, our know

A study of the importance of education and cost incentives on individual food choices at the Harvard School of Public Health cafeteria.

Science.gov (United States)

Michels, Karin B; Bloom, Barry R; Riccardi, Paul; Rosner, Bernard A; Willett, Walter C

2008-02-01

To investigate the importance of cost and awareness of health- or disease-promoting properties of foods and meals for choices by customers of a cafeteria. A non-randomized intervention study. A medium size cafeteria in the Harvard School of Public Health. Customers of the cafeteria mainly consisting of public health students, faculty, and school staff and workers from the medical campus. The purchase of healthy foods and dishes was subsidized and their prices reduced by 20%. This promotion was accompanied by the distribution of educational material. Change in consumption of healthy and less healthy foods. The geometric mean was used to calculate the change in consumption. During the intervention, we observed a 6% increase in the consumption of healthy foods (95% confidence interval [CI]; 5% to 8%), and a 2% decline in the consumption of less-healthy foods (95% CI; -1% to -4%). After the prices returned to their original levels, the consumption of healthy foods increased further to 17% (95% CI; 13% to 20%) and a 2% decline in the consumption of less-healthy foods (95% CI; % 1 to -5%) persisted. Subsidizing healthful meals and educating consumers about the importance of a healthy diet can result in a modest increase in the selection of healthy foods and meals that can be maintained beyond the periods of subsidy and promotion.

Effectiveness of Guided Multiple Choice Objective Questions Test on Students' Academic Achievement in Senior School Mathematics by School Location

Science.gov (United States)

Igbojinwaekwu, Patrick Chukwuemeka

2015-01-01

This study investigated, using pretest-posttest quasi-experimental research design, the effectiveness of guided multiple choice objective questions test on students' academic achievement in Senior School Mathematics, by school location, in Delta State Capital Territory, Nigeria. The sample comprised 640 Students from four coeducation secondary…

Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS): Harsh Choices For Interventional Pain Management Physicians.

Science.gov (United States)

Manchikanti, Laxmaiah; Helm Ii, Standiford; Benyamin, Ramsin M; Hirsch, Joshua A

2016-01-01

The Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) was created by the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA) to improve the health of all Americans by providing incentives and policies to improve patient health outcomes. MIPS combines 3 existing programs, Meaningful Use (MU), now called Advancing Care Information (ACI), contributing 25% of the composite score; Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS), changed to Quality, contributing 50% of the composite score; and Value-based Payment (VBP) system to Resource Use or cost, contributing 10% of the composite score. Additionally, Clinical Practice Improvement Activities (CPIA), contributing 15% of the composite score, create multiple strategic goals to design incentives that drive movement toward delivery system reform principles with inclusion of Advanced Alternative Payment Models (APMs). Under the present proposal, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has estimated approximately 30,000 to 90,000 providers from a total of over 761,000 providers will be exempt from MIPS. About 87% of solo practitioners and 70% of practitioners in groups of less than 10 will be subjected to negative payments or penalties ranging from 4% to 9%. In addition, MIPS also will affect a provider's reputation by making performance measures accessible to consumers and third-party physician rating Web sites.The MIPS composite performance scoring method, at least in theory, utilizes weights for each performance category, exceptional performance factors to earn bonuses, and incorporates the special circumstances of small practices.In conclusion, MIPS has the potential to affect practitioners negatively. Interventional Pain Medicine practitioners must understand the various MIPS measures and how they might participate in order to secure a brighter future. Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015, merit-based incentive payment system, quality performance measures, resource use, clinical practice

Private versus Public Feedback - The Incentive Effects of Symbolic Awards

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gerhards, Leonie; Siemer, Neele

We experimentally compare the incentive effects of rewarding individuals for outstanding performance publicly versus privately. We implement two real-effort tasks, which differ in how prestigious subjects perceive working on them. In both tasks private and public feedback similarly enhances...... experiment at a secondary school we furthermore compare the incentive effects of different forms of public recognition....

Differences in body dissatisfaction, weight-management practices and food choices of high-school students in the Bangkok metropolitan region by gender and school type.

Science.gov (United States)

Chongwatpol, Pitipa; Gates, Gail E

2016-05-01

The present study aimed to compare body dissatisfaction, food choices, physical activity and weight-management practices by gender and school type. A questionnaire was used to obtain height, weight, body image perception using Stunkard's figure rating scale, food choices, physical activity and weight-management practices. Nine single- and mixed-gender schools located in Bangkok Metropolitan Region, Thailand. Students in 10th-12th grade, aged 15-18 years (n 2082). Only 18% of females and 21% of males did not indicate body dissatisfaction. About 66% of females selected a thinner ideal figure than their current figure. Among males, 44% wanted a thinner figure, but 35% wanted a bigger figure. However, univariate analysis found differences by school type but not gender in the degree of body dissatisfaction; students in single-gender schools had more body dissatisfaction. Females reported using more weight-management practices but less physical activity, while males reported healthier food choices. Participants in single-gender schools had healthier food choices compared with those in mixed-gender schools. Adolescents who were at increased risk of a greater degree of body dissatisfaction were females, attended single-gender schools, had lower household income, higher BMI and less physical activity. Most participants reported being dissatisfied with their current body shape, but the type and level of dissatisfaction and use of weight-management practices differed by gender and type of school. These findings suggest that programmes to combat body dissatisfaction should address different risk factors in males and females attending single- and mixed-gender schools.

Development of a structured observational method for the systematic assessment of school food-choice architecture.

Science.gov (United States)

Ozturk, Orgul D; McInnes, Melayne M; Blake, Christine E; Frongillo, Edward A; Jones, Sonya J

2016-01-01

The objective of this study is to develop a structured observational method for the systematic assessment of the food-choice architecture that can be used to identify key points for behavioral economic intervention intended to improve the health quality of children's diets. We use an ethnographic approach with observations at twelve elementary schools to construct our survey instrument. Elements of the structured observational method include decision environment, salience, accessibility/convenience, defaults/verbal prompts, number of choices, serving ware/method/packaging, and social/physical eating environment. Our survey reveals important "nudgeable" components of the elementary school food-choice architecture, including precommitment and default options on the lunch line.

The Tax-Credit Scholarship Audit: Do Publicly Funded Private School Choice Programs Save Money?

Science.gov (United States)

Lueken, Martin F.

2016-01-01

This report follows up on previous work that examined the fiscal effects of private school voucher programs. It estimates the total fiscal effects of tax-credit scholarship programs--another type of private school choice program--on state governments, state and local taxpayers, and school districts combined. Based on a range of assumptions, these…

The behavioralist as nutritionist: leveraging behavioral economics to improve child food choice and consumption.

Science.gov (United States)

List, John A; Samek, Anya Savikhin

2015-01-01

We leverage behavioral economics to explore new approaches to tackling child food choice and consumption. Using a field experiment with >1500 children, we report several key insights. We find that incentives have large influences: in the control, 17% of children prefer the healthy snack, whereas introduction of small incentives increases take-up of the healthy snack to ∼75%. There is some evidence that the effects continue post-treatment, consistent with a model of habit formation. We find little evidence that the framing of incentives (loss vs. gain) matters. Educational messaging alone has little effect, but we observe a combined effect of messaging and incentives: together they provide an important influence on food choice. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Changes in a middle school food environment affect food behavior and food choices.

Science.gov (United States)

Wordell, Doug; Daratha, Kenn; Mandal, Bidisha; Bindler, Ruth; Butkus, Sue Nicholson

2012-01-01

Increasing rates of obesity among children ages 12 to 19 years have led to recommendations to alter the school food environment. The purpose of this study was to determine whether there are associations between an altered school food environment and food choices of middle school students both in and outside of school. In a midsized western city, two of six middle schools allowed only bottled water in vending machines, only milk and fruit on à la carte menus, and offered a seasonal fruit and vegetable bar. Three years after the intervention was initiated, seventh- and eighth-grade students attending the two intervention schools and four control middle schools were surveyed about their food choices. A total of 2,292 surveys were completed. Self-reported frequency of consumption for nine food groups in the survey was low; consumption was higher outside than in school. Boys consumed more milk than girls although girls consumed more fruits and vegetables. Significant socioeconomic differences existed. Compared with students who paid the full lunch fee, students qualifying for free and reduced-price meals consumed more milk and juice in schools but less outside school; more candy and energy drinks in school; and more sweet drinks, candy, pastries, and energy drinks outside school. Students in intervention schools were 24% more likely to consume milk outside school, 27% less likely to consume juice in school, and 56% less likely to consume sweet pastries in school. There were no differences in fruit and vegetable consumption reported by children in control and intervention schools. Overall, there was a positive association between a modified school food environment and student food behavior in and outside school. Policies related to the school food environment are an important strategy to address the obesity epidemic in our country. Copyright © 2012 Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Isolating the Incentive Salience of Reward-Associated Stimuli: Value, Choice, and Persistence

Science.gov (United States)

Beckmann, Joshua S.; Chow, Jonathan J.

2015-01-01

Sign- and goal-tracking are differentially associated with drug abuse-related behavior. Recently, it has been hypothesized that sign- and goal-tracking behavior are mediated by different neurobehavioral valuation systems, including differential incentive salience attribution. Herein, we used different conditioned stimuli to preferentially elicit…

Consenting options for posthumous organ donation: presumed consent and incentives are not favored

Science.gov (United States)

2012-01-01

Background Posthumous organ procurement is hindered by the consenting process. Several consenting systems have been proposed. There is limited information on public relative attitudes towards various consenting systems, especially in Middle Eastern/Islamic countries. Methods We surveyed 698 Saudi Adults attending outpatient clinics at a tertiary care hospital. Preference and perception of norm regarding consenting options for posthumous organ donation were explored. Participants ranked (1, most agreeable) the following, randomly-presented, options from 1 to 11: no-organ-donation, presumed consent, informed consent by donor-only, informed consent by donor-or-surrogate, and mandatory choice; the last three options ± medical or financial incentive. Results Mean(SD) age was 32(9) year, 27% were males, 50% were patients’ companions, 60% had ≥ college education, and 20% and 32%, respectively, knew an organ donor or recipient. Mandated choice was among the top three choices for preference of 54% of respondents, with an overall median[25%,75%] ranking score of 3[2,6], and was preferred over donor-or-surrogate informed consent (4[2,7], p < 0.001), donor-only informed consent (5[3,7], p < 0.001), and presumed consent (7[3,10], p < 0.001). The addition of a financial or medical incentive, respectively, reduced ranking of mandated choice to 7[4,9], p < 0.001, and 5[3,8], p < 0.001; for donor-or-surrogate informed consent to 7[5,9], p < 0.001, and 5[3,7], p = 0.004; and for donor-only informed consent to 8[6,10], p < 0.001, and 5[3,7], p = 0.56. Distribution of ranking score of perception of norm and preference were similar except for no-organ donation (11[7,11] vs. 11[6,11], respectively, p = 0.002). Compared to females, males more perceived donor-or-surrogate informed consent as the norm (3[1,6] vs. 5[3,7], p < 0.001), more preferred mandated choice with financial incentive option (6[3,8] vs. 8[4,9], p < 0.001), and

The Influence of School on the Choice of Language Learning ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This research seeks to examine the role that context or learning situation plays in strategy choice by comparing the strategy patterns of a private English medium secondary and a government secondary school in Botswana. More specifically, the main objectives of this study are to, firstly, investigate whether the 'type of ...

Study of the Incentive Program for Washington's National Board Certified Teachers

Science.gov (United States)

Plecki, Margaret L.; Elfers, Ana M.; St. John, Elise; Finster, Matthew; Emry, Terese; Nishida, Nasue; Harmon, Jeanne

2010-01-01

This study examines the impact of Washington state's incentives for teachers to attain National Board Certification and to work in challenging schools. Using surveys and secondary analyses of state databases, we examine the workforce both prior to and following recent changes in the incentive program. The study considers the nature of National…

The Effect of Positive or Negative Frame on the Choices of Students in School Psychology and Educational Administration.

Science.gov (United States)

Fagley, N. S.; Miller, Paul M.; Jones, Robert N.

1999-01-01

Doctoral students (N=109) in school psychology and educational administration responded to five decision problems whose outcomes were framed either positively as gains or negatively as losses. Frame and profession significantly affected the number of risky choices. Educational administration students made more risky choices than school psychology…

Effectiveness and acceptability of parental financial incentives and quasi-mandatory schemes for increasing uptake of vaccinations in preschool children: systematic review, qualitative study and discrete choice experiment.

Science.gov (United States)

Adams, Jean; Bateman, Belinda; Becker, Frauke; Cresswell, Tricia; Flynn, Darren; McNaughton, Rebekah; Oluboyede, Yemi; Robalino, Shannon; Ternent, Laura; Sood, Benjamin Gardner; Michie, Susan; Shucksmith, Janet; Sniehotta, Falko F; Wigham, Sarah

2015-11-01

Uptake of preschool vaccinations is less than optimal. Financial incentives and quasi-mandatory policies (restricting access to child care or educational settings to fully vaccinated children) have been used to increase uptake internationally, but not in the UK. To provide evidence on the effectiveness, acceptability and economic costs and consequences of parental financial incentives and quasi-mandatory schemes for increasing the uptake of preschool vaccinations. Systematic review, qualitative study and discrete choice experiment (DCE) with questionnaire. Community, health and education settings in England. Qualitative study - parents and carers of preschool children, health and educational professionals. DCE - parents and carers of preschool children identified as 'at high risk' and 'not at high risk' of incompletely vaccinating their children. Qualitative study - focus groups and individual interviews. DCE - online questionnaire. The review included studies exploring the effectiveness, acceptability or economic costs and consequences of interventions that offered contingent rewards or penalties with real material value for preschool vaccinations, or quasi-mandatory schemes that restricted access to 'universal' services, compared with usual care or no intervention. Electronic database, reference and citation searches were conducted. Systematic review - there was insufficient evidence to conclude that the interventions considered are effective. There was some evidence that the quasi-mandatory interventions were acceptable. There was insufficient evidence to draw conclusions on economic costs and consequences. Qualitative study - there was little appetite for parental financial incentives. Quasi-mandatory schemes were more acceptable. Optimising current services was consistently preferred to the interventions proposed. DCE and questionnaire - universal parental financial incentives were preferred to quasi-mandatory interventions, which were preferred to targeted

A Study of the Importance of Education and Cost Incentives on Individual Food Choices at the Harvard School of Public Health Cafeteria

Science.gov (United States)

Michels, Karin B.; Bloom, Barry R.; Riccardi, Paul; Rosner, Bernard A.; Willett, Walter C.

2013-01-01

Objectives To investigate the importance of cost and awareness of health- or disease-promoting properties of foods and meals for choices by customers of a cafeteria. Design A non-randomized intervention study. Setting A medium size cafeteria in the Harvard School of Public Health. Participants Customers of the cafeteria mainly consisting of public health students, faculty, and school staff and workers from the medical campus. Intervention The purchase of healthy foods and dishes was subsidized and their prices reduced by 20%. This promotion was accompanied by the distribution of educational material. Main Outcome Measures Change in consumption of healthy and less healthy foods. Analysis The geometric mean was used to calculate the change in consumption. Results During the intervention, we observed a 6% increase in the consumption of healthy foods (95% confidence interval [CI]; 5% to 8%), and a 2% decline in the consumption of less-healthy foods (95% CI; −1% to −4%). After the prices returned to their original levels, the consumption of healthy foods increased further to 17% (95% CI; 13% to 20%) and a 2% decline in the consumption of less-healthy foods (95% CI; % 1 to −5%) persisted. Conclusions Subsidizing healthful meals and educating consumers about the importance of a healthy diet can result in a modest increase in the selection of healthy foods and meals that can be maintained beyond the periods of subsidy and promotion. PMID:18460476

Children's route choice during active transportation to school: Difference between shortest and actual route

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dessing, D.; Vries, S.I. de; Hegeman, G.; Verhagen, E.; Mechelen, W. van; Pierik, F.H.

2016-01-01

Background: The purpose of this study is to increase our understanding of environmental correlates that are associated with route choice during active transportation to school (ATS) by comparing characteristics of actual walking and cycling routes between home and school with the shortest possible

[School choice and vocational guidance for schoolchildren with chronic diseases and other health problems].

Science.gov (United States)

Lancić, Franciska; Majski-Cesarec, Slavenka; Musil, Vera

2010-09-01

By following a child's growth, development, and health, school medicine specialist can see opportunities for career choice. Special attention is needed for schoolchildren with chronic diseases and developmental difficulties, because of limited occupation choices. Studies report 10 % to 15 % prevalence of chronic diseases among schoolchildren. Parents and children should be informed about child's limitations before career choice. It would be helpful for the students to develop interests for occupations that are not contraindicated for their condition. Physical examination gives an insight into the psycho-physical abilities of an eighth-grade primary school student for further education. During examination, counselling and vocational guidance is provided for all students with chronic diseases and other health problems. All procedures are oriented to personal abilities and preferences. The aim of this study was to analyse the reasons for vocational guidance in the Varazdin County of Croatia. It included eighth-grade students from ten primary schools from 1998/99 to 2007/08. Of 4939 students, 458 (9.3 %) with chronic diseases and health difficulties were referred to vocational guidance. Of these, 41.3 % were referred due to mental and behavioural disorders. These students were assessed and received a recommendation for at least two occupations. Forty-eight students (10.5 %) did not follow the recommendation.In a coordinated effort, school physicians, vocational guidance experts, and school and local authorities should secure enrollment of students with chronic diseases and health difficulties in secondary schools and follow their development and education to provide them the best available career opportunities.

The false consensus effect disappears if representative information and monetary incentives are given

OpenAIRE

Engelmann, Dirk; Strobel, Martin

1999-01-01

In this paper we present an experiment on the false consensus effect. Unlike previous experiments, we provide monetary incentives for revealing the actual estimation of others' behavior. In each session and round sixteen subjects make a choice between two options simultaneously. Then they estimate the choices of a randomly selected subgroup. For half of the rounds we provide information about other subjects' choices. There we find no false consensus effect. At an aggregate level, subjects sig...

Can Interdistrict Choice Boost Student Achievement? The Case of Connecticut's Interdistrict Magnet School Program

Science.gov (United States)

Bifulco, Robert; Cobb, Casey D.; Bell, Courtney

2009-01-01

Connecticut's interdistrict magnet schools offer a model of choice-based desegregation that appears to satisfy current legal constraints. This study presents evidence that interdistrict magnet schools have provided students from Connecticut's central cities access to less racially and economically isolated educational environments and estimates…

Managerial strategies to make incentives meaningful and motivating.

Science.gov (United States)

Korlén, Sara; Essén, Anna; Lindgren, Peter; Amer-Wahlin, Isis; von Thiele Schwarz, Ulrica

2017-04-10

Purpose Policy makers are applying market-inspired competition and financial incentives to drive efficiency in healthcare. However, a lack of knowledge exists about the process whereby incentives are filtered through organizations to influence staff motivation, and the key role of managers is often overlooked. The purpose of this paper is to explore the strategies managers use as intermediaries between financial incentives and the individual motivation of staff. The authors use empirical data from a local case in Swedish specialized care. Design/methodology/approach The authors conducted an exploratory qualitative case study of a patient-choice reform, including financial incentives, in specialized orthopedics in Sweden. In total, 17 interviews were conducted with professionals in managerial positions, representing six healthcare providers. A hypo-deductive, thematic approach was used to analyze the data. Findings The results show that managers applied alignment strategies to make the incentive model motivating for staff. The managers' strategies are characterized by attempts to align external rewards with professional values based on their contextual and practical knowledge. Managers occasionally overruled the financial logic of the model to safeguard patient needs and expressed an interest in having a closer dialogue with policy makers about improvements. Originality/value Externally imposed incentives do not automatically motivate healthcare staff. Managers in healthcare play key roles as intermediaries by aligning external rewards with professional values. Managers' multiple perspectives on healthcare practices and professional culture can also be utilized to improve policy and as a source of knowledge in partnership with policy makers.

Incentive Use in Research: Protecting Vulnerable Populations from Exploitation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Haruna Muwonge

2013-06-01

Full Text Available Global investment in Medical Research and Development has markedly increased in the last few decades. However, due to the decreasing public altruism, researchers have come under increased pressures from the funding bodies to produce results. Out of desperation, some researchers have resorted to using incentives as a means of sourcing for volunteers. Consequently, the research burden has disproportionately been shared among the most vulnerable populations in the society. Incentives especially monetary ones present an ethical dilemma because of the uncertainties’ surrounding the morality, amount and type of payment, vulnerability of volunteers and possible threats to voluntary participation. Several studies done on the use of incentives in medical research have noted that financial motivation was the number one reason for subjects to volunteer in Medical research. Mutual benefit and freedom of choice by participants were given as reasons to support their use. However, scientists who are against the use of incentives believe that they are coercive or undue inducements, and may influence a subjects’ ability to give an informed consent. Guidelines exist that protect vulnerable groups from exploitation, although none sheds light into the use of incentives. Nonetheless, in the face of the waning public altruism, the benefits of using incentives far outweigh the dangers, although researchers should avoid situations where their use may become problematic. As a mode of payment to research subjects, researchers should adopt a combination of the Dickerts’ Wage and re-imbursement models as guides in quantifying the incentive. [Archives Medical Review Journal 2013; 22(3.000: 408-417

Infrastructure investment and incentives with supranational funding

OpenAIRE

Socorro, M. Pilar; De Rus, Ginés

2011-01-01

Public infrastructure investment is usually co-financed by supranational organizations. The selection of projects is supposed to be decided using the information provided by conventional cost-benefit analysis. Nevertheless, we show that the type of institutional design regarding the financing mechanism affects the incentives of national governments to reduce costs and increase revenues, affecting project selection, the infrastructure capacity, the choice of technology, and the type of contrac...

Pupils in Upper Secondary School Sports: Choices Based on What?

Science.gov (United States)

Ferry, Magnus; Lund, Stefan

2018-01-01

In the fields of both education and sport, the possession of capital and habitus influences an individual's lifestyles and choices, which in turn affects the social selection within these fields. In this article, we will study the Swedish system of school sports as an overlap between the fields of education and sport, and thus viewed as a double…

School Choice and Market Failure: How Politics Trumps Economics in Education and Elsewhere

Science.gov (United States)

Viteritti, Joseph P.

2010-01-01

This essay traces the roots of the equity approach to school choice to the work of Coons & Sugarman, which began as an outgrowth of their involvement with the landmark California school finance case, "Serrano v. Priest" (1971). Comparing the equity approach to the market model espoused by Milton Friedman, the author argues that the former is…

Funding School Choice: A Road Map to Tax-Credit Scholarship Programs and Scholarship Granting Organizations. Issues in Depth

Science.gov (United States)

Forster, Greg

2006-01-01

Many states are considering a form a school choice known as "tax-credit scholarships," which currently provide school choice to almost 60,000 students in Arizona, Florida and Pennsylvania, which and have just been enacted in Iowa. This guide shows how tax-credit scholarships work and introduces the scholarship granting organizations that…

The Impact of Middle-School Students' Feedback Choices and Performance on Their Feedback Memory

Science.gov (United States)

Cutumisu, Maria; Schwartz, Daniel L.

2016-01-01

This paper presents a novel examination of the impact of students' feedback choices and performance on their feedback memory. An empirical study was designed to collect the choices to seek critical feedback from a hundred and six Grade 8 middle-school students via Posterlet, a digital assessment game in which students design posters. Upon…

The Geography of School Choice in a City with Growing Inequality: The Case of Vancouver

Science.gov (United States)

Yoon, Ee-Seul; Lubienski, Christopher; Lee, Jin

2018-01-01

This analysis aims to measure the impact of school choice policy on secondary school students' enrolment patterns within the social geography of Vancouver, an increasingly polarized global city. The rationale for the study is to examine the impact of "education market" reforms on the socio-economic composition of schools in a Canadian…

Boys' boarding school management: understanding the choice criteria of parents

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Debbie Vigar-Ellis

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The South African secondary boarding school sector has become more competitive as schools attempt to attract and retain pupils. Management of such schools must not only address the educational and boarding needs of pupils, but also apply appropriate management and marketing principles to compete effectively with boarding schools throughout the country and beyond. Customers base their choices ofproducts and services on their perceptions of various offerings available, evaluated according to selection criteria they deem to be important. Marketing theory uses the term "positioning" to describe the process ofconstructing the place that a product occupies in the customer's mind relative to competing products. For schools in this sector to position themselves appropriately, they first need to determine the criteria parents use to evaluate one school against another. This study set out to determine these criteria. A sample of 169 parents and old boys, chosen using the database of a particular boys' boarding school in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN, South Africa, were sent questionnaires. Quantitative analysis was conducted to determine the most important criteria. The top two criteria were found to be a safe environment and competent staff.

Incentives, Teachers, and Gender at Work

Science.gov (United States)

Robert, Sarah A.

2013-01-01

Incentive pay programs have become panacea for a multitude of educational challenges. When aimed at teachers the assumption is that rewards entice them to work in particular ways or particular schools. However, the assumption is based on an economic formula that does not take into consideration the gendered nature of policy processes. This study…

Citizens and/or Consumers: Mutations in the Construction of Concepts and Practices of School Choice

Science.gov (United States)

Wilkins, Andrew

2010-01-01

Recent research on school choice highlights the tendency among some White, middle-class parents to engage with discourses of community responsibility and ethnic diversity as part of their responsibility and duty as choosers and who therefore exercise choice in ways that undercut the individualistic and self-interested character framing…

School accountability Incentives or sorting?

OpenAIRE

Hege Marie Gjefsen; Trude Gunnes

2015-01-01

We exploit a nested school accountability reform to estimate the causal effect on teacher mobility, sorting, and student achievement. In 2003, lower-secondary schools in Oslo became accountable to the school district authority for student achievement. In 2005, information on school performance in lower secondary education also became public. Using a difference-in-difference-in-difference approach, we find a significant increase in teacher mobility and that almost all non-stayers leave the tea...

Socio- Demographic Characteristics and Career Choice of Private Secondary School Students

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maria Ramona S. Braza

2015-11-01

Full Text Available This study determined the career choice of the high school students of the different private institutions in San Jose, Batangas as a basis for developing a career program guide to help the students in choosing their career.The descriptive method was used the study with the questionnaire and standardized test as the main data gathering instruments. Parents, students and teachers served as respondents of the study. The study revealed that most preferred career of the respondents is the academic track particularly the Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM strand. The proposed program guide formulated focused on how to help the students decide on their future career. When properly given, it will benefit the students. The researchers recommended that the proposed career program guide that has been formulated may be shown to school heads for their suggestions; the students should be provided with effective orientation on what career is really all about. This could be done by the school guidance counselor or by the teachers and parents as well and there must be a close–up tie among the guidance personnel, teachers, students, and parents to promote a better understanding of the factors which influence the career choice of the students.

Career choice motivation and value priorities of future nursery and elementary school teachers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marušić-Jablanović Milica V.

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The paper presents a study that aimed to establish the nature of the link between the value orientation of future nursery and elementary school teachers and the motivation for their career choice. Two instruments were used - the Schwartz Portrait Values Questionnaire (PVQ-21 and the Career Choice Scale. The findings suggest that the motivation for the respondents' career choice and their value orientation are relatively homogeneous, but also that two groups of students can be distinguished according to dominant motivating factors, and that these two groups also differ in their value priorities. Non-parametric correlation showed that each type of motivation reflected different values - in individuals whose dominant motivation was intrinsic, the values of benevolence, self-direction and achievement were more pronounced, while stronger altruistic motivation correlated with more pronounced values of benevolence and universalism. On the other hand, extrinsic motivation correlated with the values of hedonism and power, which the initial theoretical model locates at the opposite end to the values corresponding to altruistic motivation. The research findings are important for understanding the reasons behind nursery and elementary school teachers' career choice and the goals they are guided by in their life and work, and are also important for the career guidance process.

Reviving Magnet Schools: Strengthening a Successful Choice Option. A Research Brief

Science.gov (United States)

Siegel-Hawley, Genevieve; Frankenberg, Erica

2012-01-01

Magnet schools make up the largest system of choice in the U.S. They were originally conceived to accomplish the twin goals of innovation and integration. Over the years, however, the integrative mission of magnet programs has somewhat receded, particularly during the second Bush Administration. Meanwhile, political and financial support has…

Exploration of Holland's Theory of Vocational Choice in Graduate School Enviroments

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Frantz, Thomas T.; Walsh, E. Pierce

1972-01-01

The purpose of the present study was to refine many of the constructs used in Holland's theory of vocational choice by investigating definitions and relationships that comprise the theory. As well, this study concerned itself with establishing usefulness of applying Holland's theory to students in a graduate school environment. (Author)

Reducing the Impact of R.I.F.--An Incentive Program.

Science.gov (United States)

Brooks, Carl

A northern Illinois school district (School District 300), forced by budget cuts to curtail its teaching staff, used incentives and the decisionmaking methods of William Ouchi's Theory Z to reduce layoffs. The superintendent and the teachers' union leadership established a Transfer Council of six administrators and nine teachers to plan staff…

Choices and Changes: Eccles’ Expectancy-Value Model and Upper-Secondary School Students’ Longitudinal Reflections about their Choice of a STEM Education

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lykkegaard, Eva; Ulriksen, Lars

2016-01-01

During the past 30 years, Eccles’ comprehensive social-psychological Expectancy-Value Model of Motivated Behavioural Choices (EV-MBC model) has been proven suitable for studying educational choices related to Science, Technology, Engineering and/or Mathematics (STEM). The reflections of 15 students...... in their last year in upper-secondary school concerning their choice of tertiary education were examined using quantitative EV-MBC surveys and repeated qualitative interviews. This article presents the analyses of three cases in detail. The analytical focus was whether the factors indicated in the EV-MBC model......, and that significant changes in the students’ reflections were not captured by the factors of the EV-MBC model. This questions the validity of the EVMBC surveys. Moreover, the quantitative factors from the EV-MBC model did not sufficiently explain students’ dynamical educational choice processes where students...

The Effect of Incentives and Meta-incentives on the Evolution of Cooperation.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Isamu Okada

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Although positive incentives for cooperators and/or negative incentives for free-riders in social dilemmas play an important role in maintaining cooperation, there is still the outstanding issue of who should pay the cost of incentives. The second-order free-rider problem, in which players who do not provide the incentives dominate in a game, is a well-known academic challenge. In order to meet this challenge, we devise and analyze a meta-incentive game that integrates positive incentives (rewards and negative incentives (punishments with second-order incentives, which are incentives for other players' incentives. The critical assumption of our model is that players who tend to provide incentives to other players for their cooperative or non-cooperative behavior also tend to provide incentives to their incentive behaviors. In this paper, we solve the replicator dynamics for a simple version of the game and analytically categorize the game types into four groups. We find that the second-order free-rider problem is completely resolved without any third-order or higher (meta incentive under the assumption. To do so, a second-order costly incentive, which is given individually (peer-to-peer after playing donation games, is needed. The paper concludes that (1 second-order incentives for first-order reward are necessary for cooperative regimes, (2 a system without first-order rewards cannot maintain a cooperative regime, (3 a system with first-order rewards and no incentives for rewards is the worst because it never reaches cooperation, and (4 a system with rewards for incentives is more likely to be a cooperative regime than a system with punishments for incentives when the cost-effect ratio of incentives is sufficiently large. This solution is general and strong in the sense that the game does not need any centralized institution or proactive system for incentives.

The Effect of Incentives and Meta-incentives on the Evolution of Cooperation.

Science.gov (United States)

Okada, Isamu; Yamamoto, Hitoshi; Toriumi, Fujio; Sasaki, Tatsuya

2015-05-01

Although positive incentives for cooperators and/or negative incentives for free-riders in social dilemmas play an important role in maintaining cooperation, there is still the outstanding issue of who should pay the cost of incentives. The second-order free-rider problem, in which players who do not provide the incentives dominate in a game, is a well-known academic challenge. In order to meet this challenge, we devise and analyze a meta-incentive game that integrates positive incentives (rewards) and negative incentives (punishments) with second-order incentives, which are incentives for other players' incentives. The critical assumption of our model is that players who tend to provide incentives to other players for their cooperative or non-cooperative behavior also tend to provide incentives to their incentive behaviors. In this paper, we solve the replicator dynamics for a simple version of the game and analytically categorize the game types into four groups. We find that the second-order free-rider problem is completely resolved without any third-order or higher (meta) incentive under the assumption. To do so, a second-order costly incentive, which is given individually (peer-to-peer) after playing donation games, is needed. The paper concludes that (1) second-order incentives for first-order reward are necessary for cooperative regimes, (2) a system without first-order rewards cannot maintain a cooperative regime, (3) a system with first-order rewards and no incentives for rewards is the worst because it never reaches cooperation, and (4) a system with rewards for incentives is more likely to be a cooperative regime than a system with punishments for incentives when the cost-effect ratio of incentives is sufficiently large. This solution is general and strong in the sense that the game does not need any centralized institution or proactive system for incentives.

Title I Middle School Administrators' Beliefs and Choices about Using Corporal Punishment and Exclusionary Discipline

Science.gov (United States)

Kennedy, Brianna L.; Murphy, Amy S.; Jordan, Adam

2017-01-01

This grounded theory study of how Title I middle school administrators determine students' punishments was developed using interviews with 27 Florida administrators from schools allowing corporal punishment. Administrators' choices were shaped by their upbringings, their experiences as parents, their job requirements, the expectations of students'…

Struggles for Educational Equity in Prince Edward County, VA: Resistance, Southern Manifesto Ideologies, and School Choice

Science.gov (United States)

Tillerson-Brown, Amy

2016-01-01

In light of contemporary school choice proposals and the 60th anniversary of the Southern Manifesto, the Prince Edward County, Virginia public schools crisis provides interesting historical discussion. Prince Edward County (PEC), a rural community in central Virginia, was one of five school districts represented in the 1954 "Brown v. Board of…

Determinants of Tracking Intentions, and Actual Education Choices among Junior High School Students in Rural China

Science.gov (United States)

Song, Yingquan; Loyalka, Prashant; Wei, Jianguo

2013-01-01

This article analyzes rural middle school students' tracking intentions (academic high school, vocational high school, or going to work), actual education choices, and the factors affecting them, using a random sampled baseline survey and follow-up survey of 2,216 second-year students residing outside of county seats in forty-one impoverished…

Compensation Reform and Design Preferences of Teacher Incentive Fund Grantees. Policy Paper

Science.gov (United States)

Heyburn, Sara; Lewis, Jessica; Ritter, Gary

2010-01-01

In U.S. K-12 public education, incentive pay for educators remains firmly fixed as a high-interest policy topic and has recently become a popular reform initiative in many school systems. The Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF), created in 2006 by the U.S. Department of Education, is at the forefront of this policy movement and has provided hundreds of…

Cultures of choice: towards a sociology of choice as a cultural phenomenon.

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Schwarz, Ori

2017-09-07

The article explores different ways to conceptualize the relationship between choice and culture. These two notions are often constructed as opposites: while sociologies of modernization (such as Giddens') portray a shift from cultural traditions to culturally disembedded choice, dispositional sociologies (such as Bourdieu's) uncover cultural determination as the hidden truth behind apparent choice. However, choice may be real and cultural simultaneously. Culture moulds choice not only by inculcating dispositions or shaping repertoires of alternatives, but also by offering culturally specific choice practices, ways of choosing embedded in meaning, normativity, and materiality; and by shaping attributions of choice in everyday life. By bringing together insights from rival schools, I portray an outline for a comparative cultural sociology of choice, and demonstrate its purchase while discussing the digitalization of choice; and cultural logics that shape choice attribution in ways opposing neoliberal trends. © London School of Economics and Political Science 2017.

Trends in the Use of School Choice, 1993 to 2003. Statistical Analysis Report. NCES 2007-045

Science.gov (United States)

Tice, Peter; Chapman, Christopher; Princiotta, Daniel; Bielick, Stacey

2006-01-01

Opportunities for school choice in the United States have expanded since the 1990s. This report uses data from the National Household Surveys Program (NHES) to present trends that focus on the use of and users of public schools (assigned and chosen), private schools (church-and nonchurch-related), and homeschoolers between 1993 and 2003. The…

School Choice Options Limit Access to Higher Education for Various Groups of Students in Quebec

Science.gov (United States)

Labrosse, Julie; Gaudreault, Marco; Picard, France

2017-01-01

The choice of selected school options by pupils in secondary school, particularly mathematics and physical sciences, have implications for future educational pathways in higher education [Felouzis, G. (1997). "L'efficacité des enseignants, Sociologie de la relation pédagogique." Paris: Presses Universitaires de France; Moreau, G. (2005).…

The High Cost of Failing to Reform Public Education in Indiana. School Choice Issues in the State

Science.gov (United States)

Gottlob, Brian J.

2006-01-01

This study documents the public costs of high school dropouts in Indiana, and examines how school choice would provide large public benefits by increasing the graduation rate in Indiana public schools. It calculates the annual cost of high school dropouts in Indiana due to lower state income tax payments, increased reliance on Medicaid, and…

Arizona Likely Voter Survey on Proposed Legislation to Enhance School Choice

Science.gov (United States)

Kenski, Margaret C.

2005-01-01

This report contains the results of a telephone survey of 602 likely Arizona voters on various measures to enhance school choice in Arizona. This research was conducted by Arizona Opinion of Tucson for The Milton and Rose D. Friedman Foundation of Indianapolis. All fieldwork was conducted on March 23-26, and 28-29, 2005 by DataCall Inc. of…

Students' approaches to medical school choice: relationship with students' characteristics and motivation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wouters, Anouk; Croiset, Gerda; Schripsema, Nienke R.; Cohen-Schotanus, Janke; Spaai, Gerard W. G.; Hulsman, Robert L.; Kusurkar, Rashmi A.

2017-01-01

The aim was to examine main reasons for students' medical school choice and their relationship with students' characteristics and motivation during the students' medical study. In this multisite cross-sectional study, all Year-1 and Year-4 students who had participated in a selection procedure in

Choices and changes: Eccles' Expectancy-Value model and upper-secondary school students' longitudinal reflections about their choice of a STEM education

Science.gov (United States)

Lykkegaard, Eva; Ulriksen, Lars

2016-03-01

During the past 30 years, Eccles' comprehensive social-psychological Expectancy-Value Model of Motivated Behavioural Choices (EV-MBC model) has been proven suitable for studying educational choices related to Science, Technology, Engineering and/or Mathematics (STEM). The reflections of 15 students in their last year in upper-secondary school concerning their choice of tertiary education were examined using quantitative EV-MBC surveys and repeated qualitative interviews. This article presents the analyses of three cases in detail. The analytical focus was whether the factors indicated in the EV-MBC model could be used to detect significant changes in the students' educational choice processes. An important finding was that the quantitative EV-MBC surveys and the qualitative interviews gave quite different results concerning the students' considerations about the choice of tertiary education, and that significant changes in the students' reflections were not captured by the factors of the EV-MBC model. This questions the validity of the EV-MBC surveys. Moreover, the quantitative factors from the EV-MBC model did not sufficiently explain students' dynamical educational choice processes where students in parallel considered several different potential educational trajectories. We therefore call for further studies of the EV-MBC model's use in describing longitudinal choice processes and especially in investigating significant changes.

Perceptions on gender awareness and considerations in career choices of medical students in a medical school in Taiwan.

Science.gov (United States)

Chung, Yueh-Chin; Lin, Ching-Yi; Huang, Chien-Ning; Yang, Jen-Hung

2013-11-01

The trend of medical career choice in the younger generation has resulted in deficiency of manpower in the four major disciplines of internal medicine, surgery, obstetrics/gynecology, and pediatrics, which will threaten people's health care in Taiwan. However, perceptions of gender awareness and factors affecting the career choices of medical students have not been investigated systemically in Taiwan. To explore the perceptions on gender awareness and considerations in career choices, we recruited 280 1(st)- and 7(th)-year male and female medical students at a Medical University for the study. A modified Nijmegen questionnaire using a 5-point Likert scale containing medical curricula (18 items), gender awareness (13 items), and career inclination (9 items) was adopted as the investigation tool in our study. The response rate was 75% (224/280). With regard to gender, the 1(st)-year male students had greater confidence in being a physician than the female students (p gender was more prominent in the 7(th)-year than in the 1(st)-year students (p gender and "female physicians are more empathetic and provide more communications than male physicians". Factors influencing career choices of medical students, including "personal interests/talents" and "academic achievement of the specialty," were not significantly different by gender. Factors included "training and learning environments of the specialty", "risk of lawsuit", and "economic incentive" were more appreciated by the senior than the junior students (p gender or seniority. The 7(th)-year students had experiences in clinical medicine and had different considerations in career choice in comparison to the 1(st)-year students, and gender played a role in senior students. In addition, the senior rather than the junior students regarded "training and learning environments", "risk of lawsuit", and "economic incentive" as more important factors affecting the career choices, and male students paid more attention to these

Effectiveness of Motivational Incentives for Adolescent Marijuana Users in a School-Based Intervention.

Science.gov (United States)

Stewart, David G; Felleman, Benjamin I; Arger, Christopher A

2015-11-01

This study examined whether adolescents receiving Motivational Interviewing (MI) intervention have different outcomes compared to those receiving Motivational Incentives (Motivational Interviewing combined with Contingency Management; MI+CM). A total of 136 adolescents (from a parent study of 220 adolescents) with problematic substance use were recruited from 8 high schools in Washington State, where they completed either 8-weeks of MI or MI+CM. Frequency of marijuana use was assessed at baseline, at the end-of-treatment, and at 16-week follow-up. A balanced and matched sample was created using propensity scores, then analyzed using Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM). Multilevel regression analyses revealed that adolescents who received MI+CM exhibited a greater reduction in use across time (pmotivation and school attendance were not found. Use of coping strategies at the end-of-treatment had a significant indirect effect on the relationship between the intervention condition and marijuana use at the end-of-treatment (F3, 121=10.20, R2=.20, p<.01). These results suggest that the inclusion of contingencies into adolescent marijuana treatment decreases the end-of-treatment frequency of marijuana use and related consequences while increasing the use of coping strategies and the pursuit of additional treatment. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The High Cost of Failing to Reform Public Education in Texas. School Choice Issues in the State

Science.gov (United States)

Gottlob, Brian J.

2008-01-01

Research has documented a crisis in Texas high school graduation rates. Only 67 percent of Texas students graduate from high school, and some large urban districts have graduation rates of 50 percent or lower. This study documents the public costs of high school dropouts in Texas and examines how school choice could provide large public benefits…

Parental Choice of Schooling, Learning Processes and Inter-Ethnic Friendship Patterns: The Case of Malay Students in Chinese Primary Schools in Malaysia

Science.gov (United States)

Sua, Tan Yao; Ngah, Kamarudin; Darit, Sezali Md.

2013-01-01

This study surveys 200 Malay students enrolled in three Chinese primary schools in relation to three issues, i.e., parental choice of schooling, learning processes and inter-ethnic friendship patterns. The three issues are explored through a combination of quantitative and qualitative research methodologies. Parental expectations for their…

A Trial of Financial and Social Incentives to Increase Older Adults' Walking.

Science.gov (United States)

Harkins, Kristin A; Kullgren, Jeffrey T; Bellamy, Scarlett L; Karlawish, Jason; Glanz, Karen

2017-05-01

Despite evidence that regular physical activity confers health benefits, physical activity rates among older adults remain low. Both personal and social goals may enhance older adults' motivation to become active. This study tested the effects of financial incentives, donations to charity, and the combined effects of both interventions on older adults' uptake and retention of increased levels of walking. RCT comparing three interventions to control. Data collection occurred from 2012 to 2013. Analyses were conducted in 2013-2016. Ninety-four adults aged ≥65 years from Philadelphia-area retirement communities. All participants received digital pedometers, walking goals of a 50% increase in daily steps, and weekly feedback on goal attainment. Participants were randomized to one of four groups: (1) Control: received weekly feedback only; (2) Financial Incentives: received payment of $20 each week walking goals were met; (3) Social Goals: received donation of $20 to a charity of choice each week walking goals were met; and (4) Combined: received $20 each week walking goals were met that could be received by participant, donated to a charity of choice, or divided between the participant and charity. Mean proportion of days walking goals were met during the 16-week intervention and 4-week follow-up period. After adjusting for baseline walking, the proportion of days step goals were met during the 16-week intervention period was higher in all intervention groups versus controls (relative risk, 3.71; 95% CI=1.37, 10.01). During the 4-week follow up period, the proportion of days step goals were met did not differ in intervention groups compared to control (relative risk, 2.91; 95% CI=0.62, 13.64). Incentive schemes that use donations to a charity of choice, personal financial incentives, or a combination of the two can each increase older adults' initial uptake of increased levels of walking. This study is registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov NCT01643538. Copyright �

Factors Affecting Christian Parents' School Choice Decision Processes: A Grounded Theory Study

Science.gov (United States)

Prichard, Tami G.; Swezey, James A.

2016-01-01

This study identifies factors affecting the decision processes for school choice by Christian parents. Grounded theory design incorporated interview transcripts, field notes, and a reflective journal to analyze themes. Comparative analysis, including open, axial, and selective coding, was used to reduce the coded statements to five code families:…

Schools' Responses to Voucher Policy: Participation Decisions and Early Implementation Experiences in the Indiana Choice Scholarship Program

Science.gov (United States)

Austin, Megan J.

2015-01-01

Little is known about the supply side of voucher programs, despite schools' central role in program effectiveness. Using survey and interview data on the Indiana Choice Scholarship Program (ICSP), I analyze schools' participation decisions and early implementation experiences to understand better how schools respond to program regulations. I find…

Superintendents' Views on Financial and Non-Financial Incentives on Teacher Recruitment and Retention

Science.gov (United States)

Kelly, Paul; Tejeda-Delgado, Carmen; Slate, John R.

2008-01-01

In this study, the researchers investigated the perceived relationships of financial and non-financial incentives on teacher recruitment and retention among public school teachers in the State of Texas from the perspective of 98 public school superintendents. Findings revealed that school districts tended to offer teachers' salaries over the state…

Cost-Effectiveness of Rural Incentive Packages for Graduating Medical Students in Lao PDR.

Science.gov (United States)

Keuffell, Eric; Jaskiewicz, Wanda; Theppanya, Khampasong; Tulenko, Kate

2016-10-29

The dearth of health workers in rural settings in Lao People's Democratic Republic (PDR) and other developing countries limits healthcare access and outcomes. In evaluating non-wage financial incentive packages as a potential policy option to attract health workers to rural settings, understanding the expected costs and effects of the various programs ex ante can assist policy-makers in selecting the optimal incentive package. We use discrete choice experiments (DCEs), costing analyses and recent empirical results linking health worker density and health outcomes to estimate the future location decisions of physicians and determine the cost-effectiveness of 15 voluntary incentives packages for new physicians in Lao PDR. Our data sources include a DCE survey completed by medical students (n = 329) in May 2011 and secondary cost, economic and health data. Mixed logit regressions provide the basis for estimating how each incentive package influences rural versus urban location choice over time. We estimate the expected rural density of physicians and the cost-effectiveness of 15 separate incentive packages from a societal perspective. In order to generate the cost-effectiveness ratios we relied on the rural uptake probabilities inferred from the DCEs, the costing data and prior World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that relate health outcomes to health worker density. Relative to no program, the optimal voluntary incentive package would increase rural physician density by 15% by 2016 and 65% by 2041. After incorporating anticipated health effects, seven (three) of the 15 incentive packages have anticipated average cost-effectiveness ratio less than the WHO threshold (three times gross domestic product [GDP] per capita) over a 5-year (30 year) period. The optimal package's incremental cost-effectiveness ratio is $1454/QALY (quality-adjusted life year) over 5 years and $2380/QALY over 30 years. Capital intensive components, such as housing or facility improvement

Risk attitudes, competition and career choices – The willingness to take risk and the choice of further education among Finnish upper secondary school students

OpenAIRE

Valve, Joonas

2015-01-01

The subject of this thesis is risk attitudes and the choice of further education among Finnish secondary school students. Data comes from a survey compiled in 2011 for 18 secondary schools in Finland. The data has 3418 respondents in total, 1984 (approximately 58 percent) of whom are female. There are three main questions in this study. First, do gender, parental education and standard of living affect the secondary school student’s willingness to take risks? We measure the risk attitude...

Do Financial Incentives Influence GPs' Decisions to Do After-hours Work? A Discrete Choice Labour Supply Model.

Science.gov (United States)

Broadway, Barbara; Kalb, Guyonne; Li, Jinhu; Scott, Anthony

2017-12-01

This paper analyses doctors' supply of after-hours care (AHC), and how it is affected by personal and family circumstances as well as the earnings structure. We use detailed survey data from a large sample of Australian General Practitioners (GPs) to estimate a structural, discrete choice model of labour supply and AHC. This allows us to jointly model GPs' decisions on the number of daytime-weekday working hours and the probability of providing AHC. We simulate GPs' labour supply responses to an increase in hourly earnings, both in a daytime-weekday setting and for AHC. GPs increase their daytime-weekday working hours if their hourly earnings in this setting increase, but only to a very small extent. GPs are somewhat more likely to provide AHC if their hourly earnings in that setting increase, but again, the effect is very small and only evident in some subgroups. Moreover, higher earnings in weekday-daytime practice reduce the probability of providing AHC, particularly for men. Increasing GPs' earnings appears to be at best relatively ineffective in encouraging increased provision of AHC and may even prove harmful if incentives are not well targeted. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Consumer Acceptance of Population-Level Intervention Strategies for Healthy Food Choices: The Role of Perceived Effectiveness and Perceived Fairness

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bos, C.; Lans, van der I.A.; Rijnsoever, F.J.; Trijp, van J.C.M.

2015-01-01

The present study investigates acceptance of intervention strategies for low-calorie snack choices that vary regarding the effect they have on consumers’ freedom of choice (providing information, guiding choice through (dis)incentives, and restricting choice). We examine the mediating effects of

Cross-selling lending and underwriting : scope economies and incentives

OpenAIRE

Laux, Christian; Walz, Uwe

2009-01-01

We highlight the implications of combining underwriting services and lending for the choice of underwriters and for competition in the underwriting business. We show that cross-selling can increase underwriters' incentives, and we explain three phenomena: first, that cross-selling is important for universal banks to enter the investment banking business; second, that cross-selling is particularly attractive for highly leveraged borrowers; third, that less-than-market rates are no prerequisite...

The Fiscal Impact of Tax-Credit Scholarships in Montana. School Choice Issues in the State

Science.gov (United States)

Gottlob, Brian

2009-01-01

Many states have enacted or are considering proposals to give tax credits for contributions that provide tuition scholarships for students in K-12 schools to attend the private or public schools of their choice. This study seeks to inform the public and policymakers about the implications for Montana if the state were to enact such a program. The…

Short-Term Impact of Safer Choices: A Multicomponent, School-Based HIV, Other STD, and Pregnancy Prevention Program.

Science.gov (United States)

Coyle, Karin; Basen-Engquist, Karen; Kirby, Douglas; Parcel, Guy; Banspach, Stephen; Harrist, Ronald; Baumler, Elizabeth; Weil, Marsha

1999-01-01

Evaluated the effectiveness of the first year of "Safer Choices," a two-year, multicomponent HIV, STD, and pregnancy-prevention program for high school students based on social theory. Student self-report surveys indicated that "Safer Choices" succeeded in reducing selected risk behaviors and in enhancing selected protective…

High School Track Choice and Financial Constraints: Evidence from Urban Mexico. Policy Research Working Paper 7427

Science.gov (United States)

Avitabile, Ciro; Bobba, Matteo; Pariguana, Marco

2015-01-01

Parents and students from different socioeconomic backgrounds value differently school characteristics, but the reasons behind this preference heterogeneity are not well understood. In the context of the centralized school assignment system in Mexico City, this study analyzes how a large household income shock affects choices over high school…

The Effect of Incentives and Meta-incentives on the Evolution of Cooperation

OpenAIRE

Okada, Isamu; Yamamoto, Hitoshi; Toriumi, Fujio; Sasaki, Tatsuya

2015-01-01

Although positive incentives for cooperators and/or negative incentives for free-riders in social dilemmas play an important role in maintaining cooperation, there is still the outstanding issue of who should pay the cost of incentives. The second-order free-rider problem, in which players who do not provide the incentives dominate in a game, is a well-known academic challenge. In order to meet this challenge, we devise and analyze a meta-incentive game that integrates positive incentives (re...

Beyond Choice to New Public Schools: Withdrawing the Exclusive Franchise in Public Education. Policy Report No. 8.

Science.gov (United States)

Kolderie, Ted

A strategy for revitalizing public education by stimulating the creation of new public schools is proposed in this report. The proposed system goes beyond school choice and is based on the withdrawal of local districts' exclusive franchise to own and operate public schools. The proposal is based on the premise that the state must provide both…

Career choices for radiology: national surveys of graduates of 1974-2002 from UK medical schools

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Turner, G.; Lambert, T.W.; Goldacre, M.J.

2006-01-01

Aim: To report on trends in career choices for radiology among UK medical graduates. Materials and methods: One and 3 years after graduation, and at longer time intervals thereafter, postal questionnaire surveys were sent to all doctors who graduated from UK medical schools in 1974, 1977, 1980, 1983, 1993, 1996, 1999, 2000 and 2002. Doctors were asked to specify their choice of long-term career and to identify factors influencing their choice. Employment details were also collected. Results were analysed using χ 2 statistics and binary logistic regression. Results: Seventy-four percent (24,621/33,412) and 73% (20,720/28,459) of doctors responded 1 and 3 years after graduation. Choices for radiology in year 1 increased significantly over time (1.7% of 1974 graduates to 3.2% of 2002 graduates; χ 2 test for trend = 15.3, p < 0.001). In particular, there has been a steady increase from the cohorts of 1993 onwards. Thirty-eight percent of those who chose radiology in year 1, and 80% who chose radiology in year 3, were still working in radiology 10 years after graduation. Hours and working conditions influenced long-term career choices more for radiology than for other careers. Conclusions: The proportion of UK trained junior doctors who want to become radiologists has increased in recent years. However, although medical school intake and the numbers making an early choice for radiology have risen, it is unclear whether sufficient UK graduates will be attracted to radiology to fulfil future service requirements from UK trained graduates alone

The Australian Education Union's Response to Kevin Donnelly's "The Australian Education Union: A History of Opposing School Choice and School Autonomy Down-Under"

Science.gov (United States)

Hopgood, Susan

2015-01-01

This article is a response to Kevin Donnelly's article, "The Australian Education Union: A History of Opposing School Choice and School Autonomy Down-Under," and aims to correct specific errors and misrepresentations as found by Susan Hopgood, Federal Secretary of the Australian Education Union. She argues that the article is misleading…

Irregular incentives

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cicchetti, M.A.

1993-01-01

Public utility regulation lacks a formal proxy for the economic profits that can be earned in an effectively competitive market if a firm is efficient or innovative. After all, public utility regulation operated on cost-plus basis. If a utility is efficient or innovative and lowers its costs, its typical reward is to have its rates reduced. This is a perverse incentive to motivate a utility to produce at the most efficient level. In addition, since regulation operates on this cost-plus basis, a utility can increase its net income, all other things being equal, by overinvesting in (or open-quotes gold-platingclose quotes) its system, another perverse incentive. Recognizing these flaws of regulation, academicians, utility executives, regulators, and legislators have tried over the last several years to implement incentive regulation plans that correct such perverse incentives. However, under many of the earnings-sharing or price-regulation incentive plans, the rewards for efficient production are not tied directly to measures under a company's control. In fact, such plans could prove highly detrimental to ratepayers and competitors of the regulated company and its affiliates. An incentive regulation plan that ties an appropriate reward for efficient production to specific efficiency gains is a better proxy of an effectively competitive environment. What's more, it is superior to an incentive plan that rewards circumstances beyond the company's control or self-serving manipulation. This is particularly true if no earnings cap is associated with the reward for efficiency. Rewards for efficient production should be tied to specific actions. A suitable incentive plan does not preclude appropriately derived flexible prices for certain products or services where warranted

Implementation of School Choice Policy: Interpretation and Response by Parents of Students with Special Educational Needs.

Science.gov (United States)

Bagley, Carl; Woods, Philip A.; Woods, Glenys

2001-01-01

Provides empirically based insights into preferences, perceptions, and responses of parents of students with special education needs to the 1990s restructured school system in England. Uses analyses of quantitative/qualitative data generated by a large-scale research study on school choice. Reveals depth and range of problems encountered by these…

Teacher Incentive Pay Programs in the United States: Union Influence and District Characteristics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Guodong Liang

2015-06-01

Full Text Available This study examined the characteristics of teacher incentive pay programs in the United States. Using the 2007–08 SASS data set, it found an inverse relationship between union influence and districts’ incentive pay offerings. Large and ethnically diverse districts in urban areas that did not meet the requirements for Adequate Yearly Progress as defined under the No Child Left Behind Act are more likely to offer a larger number of economic incentives. Although rural districts are likely to reward teachers in hard-to-staff schools, they are not more likely to reward teachers who are certified by the National Board or who teach in the subject areas of shortage, nor are they more likely to offer multiple financial incentives.

Accountability Synopticism: How a Think Tank and the Media Developed a Quasimarket for School Choice in British Columbia

Science.gov (United States)

Simmonds, Michael; Webb, P. Taylor

2013-01-01

This paper describes how a locally developed school ranking system affected student enrolment patterns in British Columbia over time. In developing an annual school "report card" that was published in newspapers and online, the Vancouver-based Fraser Institute created a marketplace for school choice by devising an accountability scheme…

Sam Walton's Son Played Major Role in Setting Agenda on School Choice

Science.gov (United States)

Robelen, Erik W.

2008-01-01

In 2005, the school choice movement lost one of its leading champions when John T. Walton, an heir to the Wal-Mart retailing fortune, died in a plane crash at age 58. Advocates of expanded educational options say Mr. Walton, more than anyone else, was the driving force behind the Walton Family Foundation's education work, and its focus on…

Motivations influencing the specialty choices of medical school graduates

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zarghami M

2003-04-01

Full Text Available Background: Growing national concern about distortions in the size, specially composition, and availability of the physician workforce -especially after "cultural revolution n- has evoked challenges in Iran. Purpose: To determine various factors that influence medical graduates choices for residency program. Methods: All applicants for residency program in Mazandaran university of Medical Sciences and Health Services completed the Medical School Graduation Questionnaire, and rated each factor using 0 to 4 Likert-type scale. Factors' ratings were also compared across applicants of different residency program, and demographic variables. Results: The top two factors rated as having strong influences were ones related to interest in helping peop1e (rated 3.07, and intellectual content of the specially (rated 3. Malpractice insurance cost has the least influence (rated 0.98. Most of men preferred independence, whereas most of women preferred predictable working hours. Opportunity to make differences in people's l(fe influenced the specially choices of usual participants. whereas those who used war veterans quota paid more attention to independence and exercise of social responsibility. Patient contact factors were less important to graduates who chose diagnostic speciafties. Also, there was a significant association between the participants' age and four factors. Conclusion: These graduates based their specially preference heavily on the opportunity that the specially affords to help people, and intellectual content of the specially. Knowing the hierarchy of influences on graduates' motivations should help education strategists determine what experiences and perceptions must change if a different mix of specially decision is to result. Keywords: SPECIAL TY, MEDICAL SCHOOL, SARI, MAZANDARAN

Nudging consumers towards healthier choices: a systematic review of positional influences on food choice

OpenAIRE

Bucher Tamara; Collins Clare; Rollo Megan E.; McCaffrey Tracy A.; De Vlieger Nienke; Van der Bend Daphne; Truby Helen; Perez-Cueto Federico J. A.

2016-01-01

Nudging or 'choice architecture' refers to strategic changes in the environment that are anticipated to alter people's behaviour in a predictable way without forbidding any options or significantly changing their economic incentives. Nudging strategies may be used to promote healthy eating behaviour. However to date the scientific evidence has not been systematically reviewed to enable practitioners and policymakers to implement or argue for the implementation of specific measures to support ...

How much do incentives affect car purchase? Agent-based microsimulation of consumer choice of new cars. Part 1. Model structure, simulation of bounded rationality, and model validation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mueller, Michel G.; Haan, Peter de [ETH Zurich, Institute for Environmental Decisions, Natural and Social Science Interface, Universitaetstr. 22, CHN J 73.2, 8092 Zurich (Switzerland)

2009-03-15

This article presents an agent-based microsimulation capable of forecasting the effects of policy levers that influence individual choices of new passenger cars. The fundamental decision-making units are households distinguished by sociodemographic characteristics and car ownership. A two-stage model of individual decision processes is employed. In the first stage, individual choice sets are constructed using simple, non-compensatory rules that are based on previously owned cars. Second, decision makers evaluate alternatives in their individual choice set using a multi-attributive weighting rule. The attribute weights are based on a multinomial logit model for cross-country policy analysis in European countries. Additionally, prospect theory and the notion of mental accounting are used to model the perception of monetary values. The microsimulation forecasts actual market observations with high accuracy, both on the level of aggregate market characteristics as well as on a highly resolved level of distributions of market shares. The presented approach is useful for the assessment of policies that influence individual purchase decisions of new passenger cars; it allows accounting for a highly resolved car fleet and differentiated consumer segments. As a result, the complexity of incentive schemes can be represented and detailed structural changes can be investigated. (author)

How much do incentives affect car purchase? Agent-based microsimulation of consumer choice of new cars-Part I: Model structure, simulation of bounded rationality, and model validation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mueller, Michel G. [ETH Zurich, Institute for Environmental Decisions, Natural and Social Science Interface, Universitaetstr. 22, CHN J 73.2, 8092 Zurich (Switzerland); Haan, Peter de [ETH Zurich, Institute for Environmental Decisions, Natural and Social Science Interface, Universitaetstr. 22, CHN J 73.2, 8092 Zurich (Switzerland)], E-mail: peter.dehaan@env.ethz.ch

2009-03-15

This article presents an agent-based microsimulation capable of forecasting the effects of policy levers that influence individual choices of new passenger cars. The fundamental decision-making units are households distinguished by sociodemographic characteristics and car ownership. A two-stage model of individual decision processes is employed. In the first stage, individual choice sets are constructed using simple, non-compensatory rules that are based on previously owned cars. Second, decision makers evaluate alternatives in their individual choice set using a multi-attributive weighting rule. The attribute weights are based on a multinomial logit model for cross-country policy analysis in European countries. Additionally, prospect theory and the notion of mental accounting are used to model the perception of monetary values. The microsimulation forecasts actual market observations with high accuracy, both on the level of aggregate market characteristics as well as on a highly resolved level of distributions of market shares. The presented approach is useful for the assessment of policies that influence individual purchase decisions of new passenger cars; it allows accounting for a highly resolved car fleet and differentiated consumer segments. As a result, the complexity of incentive schemes can be represented and detailed structural changes can be investigated.

How much do incentives affect car purchase? Agent-based microsimulation of consumer choice of new cars-Part I: Model structure, simulation of bounded rationality, and model validation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mueller, Michel G.; Haan, Peter de

2009-01-01

This article presents an agent-based microsimulation capable of forecasting the effects of policy levers that influence individual choices of new passenger cars. The fundamental decision-making units are households distinguished by sociodemographic characteristics and car ownership. A two-stage model of individual decision processes is employed. In the first stage, individual choice sets are constructed using simple, non-compensatory rules that are based on previously owned cars. Second, decision makers evaluate alternatives in their individual choice set using a multi-attributive weighting rule. The attribute weights are based on a multinomial logit model for cross-country policy analysis in European countries. Additionally, prospect theory and the notion of mental accounting are used to model the perception of monetary values. The microsimulation forecasts actual market observations with high accuracy, both on the level of aggregate market characteristics as well as on a highly resolved level of distributions of market shares. The presented approach is useful for the assessment of policies that influence individual purchase decisions of new passenger cars; it allows accounting for a highly resolved car fleet and differentiated consumer segments. As a result, the complexity of incentive schemes can be represented and detailed structural changes can be investigated

Effects of Choice Architecture and Chef-Enhanced Meals on the Selection and Consumption of Healthier School Foods

Science.gov (United States)

Cohen, Juliana F.W.; Richardson, Scott A.; Cluggish, Sarah A.; Parker, Ellen; Catalano, Paul J.; Rimm, Eric B.

2015-01-01

IMPORTANCE Little is known about the long-term effect of a chef-enhanced menu on healthier food selection and consumption in school lunchrooms. In addition, it remains unclear if extended exposure to other strategies to promote healthier foods (eg, choice architecture) also improves food selection or consumption. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the short- and long-term effects of chef-enhanced meals and extended exposure to choice architecture on healthier school food selection and consumption. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS A school-based randomized clinical trial was conducted during the 2011–2012 school year among 14 elementary and middle schools in 2 urban, low-income school districts (intent-to-treat analysis). Included in the study were 2638 students in grades 3 through 8 attending participating schools (38.4%of eligible participants). INTERVENTIONS Schools were first randomized to receive a professional chef to improve school meal palatability (chef schools) or to a delayed intervention (control group). To assess the effect of choice architecture (smart café), all schools after 3 months were then randomized to the smart café intervention or to the control group. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES School food selection was recorded, and consumption was measured using plate waste methods. RESULTS After 3 months, vegetable selection increased in chef vs control schools (odds ratio [OR], 1.75; 95% CI, 1.36–2.24), but there was no effect on the selection of other components or on meal consumption. After long-term or extended exposure to the chef or smart café intervention, fruit selection increased in the chef (OR, 3.08; 95% CI, 2.23–4.25), smart café (OR, 1.45; 95% CI, 1.13–1.87), and chef plus smart café (OR, 3.10; 95% CI, 2.26–4.25) schools compared with the control schools, and consumption increased in the chef schools (OR, 0.17; 95% CI, 0.03–0.30 cups/d). Vegetable selection increased in the chef (OR, 2.54; 95% CI, 1.83–3.54), smart café (OR, 1.91; 95

Teaching Healthful Food Choices to Elementary School Students and Their Parents: The Nutrition Detectives[TM] Program

Science.gov (United States)

Katz, David L.; Katz, Catherine S.; Treu, Judith A.; Reynolds, Jesse; Njike, Valentine; Walker, Jennifer; Smith, Erica; Michael, Jennifer

2011-01-01

Background: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of a nutrition education program designed to teach elementary school students and their parents, and to distinguish between more healthful and less healthful choices in diverse food categories. Methods: Three schools were assigned to receive the Nutrition Detectives[TM] program and…

Adolescents' Views about a Proposed Rewards Intervention to Promote Healthy Food Choice in Secondary School Canteens

Science.gov (United States)

McEvoy, C. T.; Lawton, J.; Kee, F.; Young, I. S.; Woodside, J. V.; McBratney, J.; McKinley, M. C.

2014-01-01

Using rewards may be an effective method to positively influence adolescent eating behaviour, but evidence regarding this approach is limited. The aim of this study was to explore young adolescent views about a proposed reward intervention associated with food choice in school canteens. Focus groups were held in 10 schools located in lower…

Faith, Education, and Choice: A Study of the Educational Choices of Catholic Parents in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany, N.Y

Science.gov (United States)

Bott, Christopher Bruce

2017-01-01

School choice is a research topic that is often associated with public funds supporting educational alternatives. While much of the school choice research literature focuses on this category, additional types of school choice merit examination. This study examines how Catholic parents chose high schools for their children within the geographic…

Negative mood reverses devaluation of goal-directed drug-seeking favouring an incentive learning account of drug dependence.

Science.gov (United States)

Hogarth, Lee; He, Zhimin; Chase, Henry W; Wills, Andy J; Troisi, Joseph; Leventhal, Adam M; Mathew, Amanda R; Hitsman, Brian

2015-09-01

Two theories explain how negative mood primes smoking behaviour. The stimulus-response (S-R) account argues that in the negative mood state, smoking is experienced as more reinforcing, establishing a direct (automatic) association between the negative mood state and smoking behaviour. By contrast, the incentive learning account argues that in the negative mood state smoking is expected to be more reinforcing, which integrates with instrumental knowledge of the response required to produce that outcome. One differential prediction is that whereas the incentive learning account anticipates that negative mood induction could augment a novel tobacco-seeking response in an extinction test, the S-R account could not explain this effect because the extinction test prevents S-R learning by omitting experience of the reinforcer. To test this, overnight-deprived daily smokers (n = 44) acquired two instrumental responses for tobacco and chocolate points, respectively, before smoking to satiety. Half then received negative mood induction to raise the expected value of tobacco, opposing satiety, whilst the remainder received positive mood induction. Finally, a choice between tobacco and chocolate was measured in extinction to test whether negative mood could augment tobacco choice, opposing satiety, in the absence of direct experience of tobacco reinforcement. Negative mood induction not only abolished the devaluation of tobacco choice, but participants with a significant increase in negative mood increased their tobacco choice in extinction, despite satiety. These findings suggest that negative mood augments drug-seeking by raising the expected value of the drug through incentive learning, rather than through automatic S-R control.

Medical student debt and major life choices other than specialty

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

James Rohlfing

2014-11-01

Full Text Available Background: Median indebtedness at graduation is now more than $170,000 for graduates of US Medical Schools. Debate still exists as to whether higher debt levels influence students to choose high paying non-primary care specialties. Notably, no previous research on the topic has taken into account cost of attendance when constructing a debt model, nor has any research examined the non-career major life decisions that medical students face. Methods: Medical students were surveyed using an anonymous electronic instrument developed for this study. The survey was delivered through a link included in a study email and students were recruited from school wide listservs and through snowball sampling (students were encouraged to share a link to the survey with other medical students. No incentives were offered for survey completion. Results: Responses were recorded from 102 US Allopathic medical schools (n=3,032, with 22 institutions (11 public, 11 private meeting inclusion criteria of 10% student body response proportion (n=1,846. Students with higher debt relative to their peers at their home institution reported higher frequencies of feeling callous towards others, were more likely to choose a specialty with a higher average annual income, were less likely to plan to practice in underserved locations, and were less likely to choose primary care specialties. Students with higher aggregate amounts of medical student loan debt were more likely to report high levels of stress from their educational debt, to delay getting married and to report disagreement that they would choose to become a physician again, if given the opportunity to revisit that choice. Increases in both aggregate and relative debt were associated with delaying having children, delaying buying a house, concerns about managing and paying back educational debt, and worrying that educational debt will influence one's specialty choice. Conclusions: Medical student debt and particularly debt

Medical student debt and major life choices other than specialty.

Science.gov (United States)

Rohlfing, James; Navarro, Ryan; Maniya, Omar Z; Hughes, Byron D; Rogalsky, Derek K

2014-01-01

Median indebtedness at graduation is now more than $170,000 for graduates of US Medical Schools. Debate still exists as to whether higher debt levels influence students to choose high paying non-primary care specialties. Notably, no previous research on the topic has taken into account cost of attendance when constructing a debt model, nor has any research examined the non-career major life decisions that medical students face. Medical students were surveyed using an anonymous electronic instrument developed for this study. The survey was delivered through a link included in a study email and students were recruited from school wide listservs and through snowball sampling (students were encouraged to share a link to the survey with other medical students). No incentives were offered for survey completion. Responses were recorded from 102 US Allopathic medical schools (n=3,032), with 22 institutions (11 public, 11 private) meeting inclusion criteria of 10% student body response proportion (n=1,846). Students with higher debt relative to their peers at their home institution reported higher frequencies of feeling callous towards others, were more likely to choose a specialty with a higher average annual income, were less likely to plan to practice in underserved locations, and were less likely to choose primary care specialties. Students with higher aggregate amounts of medical student loan debt were more likely to report high levels of stress from their educational debt, to delay getting married and to report disagreement that they would choose to become a physician again, if given the opportunity to revisit that choice. Increases in both aggregate and relative debt were associated with delaying having children, delaying buying a house, concerns about managing and paying back educational debt, and worrying that educational debt will influence one's specialty choice. Medical student debt and particularly debt relative to peers at the same institution appears to

How much do incentives affect car purchase? Agent-based microsimulation of consumer choice of new cars. Part 2. Forecasting effects of feebates based on energy-efficiency

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Haan, Peter de; Mueller, Michel G.; Scholz, Roland W.

2009-01-01

In this paper, we simulate the car market in order to forecast the effects of feebate systems based on an energy-labeling scheme using categories A to G. Very fuel-efficient (A) cars receive a cash incentive, highly inefficient (G) cars pay additional fees. Consumers have different price elasticities and behavioral options to react to feebates. They can switch to a smaller sized car, but as energy-efficiency varies widely within size segments, they can also stick to the preferred size class and choose a more efficient (smaller) engine. In addition, previously owned cars influence the next car to be chosen. We use an agent-based microsimulation approach particularly suited to predict environmental and market effects of feebates. Heteorogeneous agents choose from a choice set drawn from a detailed fleet of new cars. Incentives of EUR2000 for A-labeled cars induce an additional rated CO 2 emission decrease of new car registrations between 3.4% and 4.3%, with CO 2 abatement costs between EUR6 and EUR13 per ton, and otherwise little undesired market disturbance. The risk of rebound effects is estimated to be low. After adopting the frequencies of consumer segments to a given country, the model presented is applicable to all European car markets. (author)

Diminished neural responses predict enhanced intrinsic motivation and sensitivity to external incentive.

Science.gov (United States)

Marsden, Karen E; Ma, Wei Ji; Deci, Edward L; Ryan, Richard M; Chiu, Pearl H

2015-06-01

The duration and quality of human performance depend on both intrinsic motivation and external incentives. However, little is known about the neuroscientific basis of this interplay between internal and external motivators. Here, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine the neural substrates of intrinsic motivation, operationalized as the free-choice time spent on a task when this was not required, and tested the neural and behavioral effects of external reward on intrinsic motivation. We found that increased duration of free-choice time was predicted by generally diminished neural responses in regions associated with cognitive and affective regulation. By comparison, the possibility of additional reward improved task accuracy, and specifically increased neural and behavioral responses following errors. Those individuals with the smallest neural responses associated with intrinsic motivation exhibited the greatest error-related neural enhancement under the external contingency of possible reward. Together, these data suggest that human performance is guided by a "tonic" and "phasic" relationship between the neural substrates of intrinsic motivation (tonic) and the impact of external incentives (phasic).

Where Do We Go from Here?: Post-High School Choices of American Men.

Science.gov (United States)

Owens, Timothy J.

1992-01-01

Presents a post-high school context choice schema that attempts to identify the factors that lead young U.S. males to enter the work force, the military, or college. Data are from the Youth in Transition Study, a longitudinal study beginning in 1966. Twenty-five potentially important predictors are identified. (SLD)

De controller als choice architect

OpenAIRE

Maas, V.S.

2012-01-01

textabstractManagement accountants are choice architects: they provide information that is used in managerial decision making and they have considerable influence on the monetary and non-monetary incentives that drive managers’ decision-making processes. Over the past two decades, our know - ledge of how people make economic decisions has increased tremendously. However, this has had only very little impact on the design of management accounting and control systems in organizations. Consequen...

Incentive Compatibility

OpenAIRE

Ledyard, John O.

1987-01-01

Incentive compatibility is described and discussed. A summary of the current state of understanding is provided. Key words are: incentive compatibility, game theory, implementation, mechanism, Bayes, Nash, and revelation.

Investigation of existing financial incentive policies for solar photovoltaic systems in U.S. regions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jian Zhang

2017-12-01

Full Text Available This paper analyzes some of the existing incentives for solar photovoltaic (PV energy generation in the U.S. Four types of buildings (e.g., hospitals, large offices, large hotels, and secondary schools located in five different U.S. states, each having their own incentives, are selected and analyzed for the PV incentive policies. The payback period of the PV system is chosen as an indicator to analyze and critique the effectiveness of each incentive by comparing the payback periods before and after taking the incentive into consideration. Then a parametric analysis is conducted to determine the influence of the variation in key parameters, such as PV system capacity, capital cost of PV, sell back ratio and the performance-based incentive rate, on the performance of the PV system. The results show how the existing incentives can be effectively used to promote the PV systems in the U.S. and how variations of the parameters can impact the payback period of the PV systems. Through the evaluation of the existing incentive policies and the parametric study, this paper demonstrates that the type and level of incentives should be carefully determined in policy-making processes to effectively promote the PV systems.

Tax Incentives : Using Tax Incentives to Attract Foreign Direct Investment

OpenAIRE

Morisset, Jacques

2003-01-01

The increasing mobility of international firms and the gradual elimination of barriers to global capital flows have stimulated competition among governments to attract foreign direct investment, often through tax incentives. This note reviews the debate about the effectiveness of tax incentives, examining two much-contested questions: can tax incentives attract foreign investment? And what...

Do Tax Incentives Affect Business Location? Evidence from State Film Incentives

OpenAIRE

Patrick Button

2015-01-01

I provide the first estimates of the impacts of recently-popular U.S. state film incentives on filming location, establishment location, and employment in the film industry. Filming in this industry is relatively insensitive to locational characteristics, and these incentives are numerous and strong, so this is a good case study to bound the effects of tax incentives on business location. I compile a detailed database of incentives across U.S. states, matching this with TV series and feature ...

Managing Disease Risks from Trade: Strategic Behavior with Many Choices and Price Effects.

Science.gov (United States)

Chitchumnong, Piyayut; Horan, Richard D

2018-03-16

An individual's infectious disease risks, and hence the individual's incentives for risk mitigation, may be influenced by others' risk management choices. If so, then there will be strategic interactions among individuals, whereby each makes his or her own risk management decisions based, at least in part, on the expected decisions of others. Prior work has shown that multiple equilibria could arise in this setting, with one equilibrium being a coordination failure in which individuals make too few investments in protection. However, these results are largely based on simplified models involving a single management choice and fixed prices that may influence risk management incentives. Relaxing these assumptions, we find strategic interactions influence, and are influenced by, choices involving multiple management options and market price effects. In particular, we find these features can reduce or eliminate concerns about multiple equilibria and coordination failure. This has important policy implications relative to simpler models.

Neural correlates of affective influence on choice.

Science.gov (United States)

Piech, Richard M; Lewis, Jade; Parkinson, Caroline H; Owen, Adrian M; Roberts, Angela C; Downing, Paul E; Parkinson, John A

2010-03-01

Making the right choice depends crucially on the accurate valuation of the available options in the light of current needs and goals of an individual. Thus, the valuation of identical options can vary considerably with motivational context. The present study investigated the neural structures underlying context dependent evaluation. We instructed participants to choose from food menu items based on different criteria: on their anticipated taste or on ease of preparation. The aim of the manipulation was to assess which neural sites were activated during choice guided by incentive value, and which during choice based on a value-irrelevant criterion. To assess the impact of increased motivation, affect-guided choice and cognition-guided choice was compared during the sated and hungry states. During affective choice, we identified increased activity in structures representing primarily valuation and taste (medial prefrontal cortex, insula). During cognitive choice, structures showing increased activity included those implicated in suppression and conflict monitoring (lateral orbitofrontal cortex, anterior cingulate). Hunger influenced choice-related activity in the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex. Our results show that choice is associated with the use of distinct neural structures for the pursuit of different goals. Published by Elsevier Inc.

School Choice Considerations and the Role of Social Media as Perceived by Computing Students: Evidence from One University in Manila

Science.gov (United States)

Lansigan, Rolando R.; Moraga, Shirley D.; Batalla, Ma. Ymelda C.; Bringula, Rex P.

2016-01-01

This descriptive study utilized a validated questionnaire that gathered data from freshmen of two different school years. Demographic profile, marketers (i.e., source of information of students about the school), influencers (i.e., significant others that persuaded them to enroll in the school), level of school choice, and level of consideration…

A qualitative study exploring how school and community environments shape the food choices of adolescents with overweight/obesity.

Science.gov (United States)

Watts, Allison W; Lovato, Chris Y; Barr, Susan I; Hanning, Rhona M; Mâsse, Louise C

2015-12-01

This study explored perceived barriers and facilitators to healthful eating in schools and communities among overweight teens who completed an E-health intervention. Twenty-two teens were recruited to a photovoice study and asked to take pictures of things that made it easier or harder to make healthful food choices at school and in their community. Digital photographs were reviewed using semi-structured interviews. Transcribed audio-recordings were analyzed using constant comparative analysis. Similar themes emerged from the school and community environments with food/beverage availability emerging most frequently, followed by peer influence, accessibility/convenience, price, classroom practices, marketing and online influences. Teens described an obesity-promoting environment and perceived very limited healthful options. Policy-driven environmental changes as well as strategies that help teens navigate food choices in their schools and communities are needed to support healthful eating. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Taking Stock of Private-School Choice: Scholars Review the Research on Statewide Programs

Science.gov (United States)

Wolf, Patrick J.; Harris, Douglas N.; Berends, Mark; Waddington, R. Joseph; Austin, Megan

2018-01-01

In the past few years, four states have established programs that provide public financial support to students who choose to attend a private school. These programs--a tax-credit-funded scholarship initiative in Florida and voucher programs in Indiana, Louisiana, and Ohio--offer a glimpse of what expansive statewide choice might look like. What…

Effect of Motives for Food Choice on Oral Health among Primary School Children in Mangalore: An Analytical Survey.

Science.gov (United States)

Mehta, Viral Vijay; Rajesh, Gururaghavendran; Rao, Ashwini; Shenoy, Ramya; Pai, Mithun; Nayak, Vijayendranath

2017-05-01

Parents influence children's eating behaviours by making some foods available than others and by acting as models of eating behaviour. Food selected by parents influence general and oral health of their children. Aim of this study was to assess oral health parameters among primary school children and motives for food choice among their parents in Mangalore. A total of 759 primary school children aged 5-10 years, and their parents participated in this study. Motives for food choice among parents of children were evaluated by using Food Choice Questionnaire (FCQ). Oral health status of students was assessed by using World Health Organisation (WHO) Basic Oral Health Assessment Form. Data pertaining to dietary habits and demographics was also collected. Descriptive and inferential statistics along with Pearson's correlation and Binary logistic regression were executed for the present study and level of significance was fixed at pfood choice motives positively influenced dietary patterns and caries experience of their children. Caries experience was less in children whose parents reported higher scores on FCQ. Understanding the barriers, identification of risk factors for poor food choices and targeting interventions might formulate ways by which the desired behaviour can be achieved.

Professional choice self-efficacy: predicting traits and personality profiles in high school students

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rodolfo Augusto Matteo Ambiel

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract This study aimed to verify the predictive capacity of the Big Five personality factors related to professional choice self-efficacy, as well as to draw a personality profile of people with diverse self-efficacy levels. There were 308 high school students participating, from three different grades (57.5 % women, from public and private schools, average 26.64 years of age. Students completed two instruments, Escala de Autoeficácia para Escolha Profissional (Professional Choice Self-efficacy Scale and Bateria Fatorial de Personalidade (Factorial Personality Battery. Results were obtained using multiple regression analysis, analysis of variance with repeated measures profile and Cohen’s d to estimate the effect size of differences. Results showed that Extraversion, Agreeableness and Conscientiousness were the main predictors of self-efficacy. Differences from medium to large were observed between extreme groups, and Extraversion and Conscientiousness were the personality factors that better distinguish people with low and high levels of self-efficacy. Theses results partially corroborate with the hypothesis. Results were discussed based on literature and on the practical implications of the results. New studies are proposed.

Choice within Constraints: Mothers and Schooling.

Science.gov (United States)

David, Miriam; Davies, Jackie; Edwards, Rosalind; Reay, Diane; Standing, Kay

1997-01-01

Explores, from a feminist perspective, the discourses of choice regarding how women make their choices as consumers in the education marketplace. It argues that mothers as parents are not free to choose but act within a range of constraints, i.e., their choices are limited by structural and moral possibilities in a patriarchal and racist society.…

Financial Incentives Differentially Regulate Neural Processing of Positive and Negative Emotions during Value-Based Decision-Making

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Anne M. Farrell

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Emotional and economic incentives often conflict in decision environments. To make economically desirable decisions then, deliberative neural processes must be engaged to regulate automatic emotional reactions. In this functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI study, we evaluated how fixed wage (FW incentives and performance-based (PB financial incentives, in which pay is proportional to outcome, differentially regulate positive and negative emotional reactions to hypothetical colleagues that conflicted with the economics of available alternatives. Neural activity from FW to PB incentive contexts decreased for positive emotional stimuli but increased for negative stimuli in middle temporal, insula, and medial prefrontal regions. In addition, PB incentives further induced greater responses to negative than positive emotional decisions in the frontal and anterior cingulate regions involved in emotion regulation. Greater response to positive than negative emotional features in these regions also correlated with lower frequencies of economically desirable choices. Our findings suggest that whereas positive emotion regulation involves a reduction of responses in valence representation regions, negative emotion regulation additionally engages brain regions for deliberative processing and signaling of incongruous events.

Financial Incentives Differentially Regulate Neural Processing of Positive and Negative Emotions during Value-Based Decision-Making.

Science.gov (United States)

Farrell, Anne M; Goh, Joshua O S; White, Brian J

2018-01-01

Emotional and economic incentives often conflict in decision environments. To make economically desirable decisions then, deliberative neural processes must be engaged to regulate automatic emotional reactions. In this functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, we evaluated how fixed wage (FW) incentives and performance-based (PB) financial incentives, in which pay is proportional to outcome, differentially regulate positive and negative emotional reactions to hypothetical colleagues that conflicted with the economics of available alternatives. Neural activity from FW to PB incentive contexts decreased for positive emotional stimuli but increased for negative stimuli in middle temporal, insula, and medial prefrontal regions. In addition, PB incentives further induced greater responses to negative than positive emotional decisions in the frontal and anterior cingulate regions involved in emotion regulation. Greater response to positive than negative emotional features in these regions also correlated with lower frequencies of economically desirable choices. Our findings suggest that whereas positive emotion regulation involves a reduction of responses in valence representation regions, negative emotion regulation additionally engages brain regions for deliberative processing and signaling of incongruous events.

An assessment of incentive versus survey length trade-offs in a Web survey of radiologists.

Science.gov (United States)

Ziegenfuss, Jeanette Y; Niederhauser, Blake D; Kallmes, David; Beebe, Timothy J

2013-03-20

It is generally understood that shorter Web surveys and use of incentives result in higher response rates in Web surveys directed to health care providers. Less is known about potential respondent preference for reduced burden as compared to increased reward. To help elicit preference for minimized burden compared to reward for completion of a survey, we observed physician preferences for shorter Web surveys compared to incentives as well as incentive preference (small guaranteed incentive compared to larger lottery incentive) accompanying an electronic request to complete a survey. This was an observational study that accompanied a large Web survey study of radiology staff, fellows, and residents at select academic medical centers in the United States. With the request to complete the survey, potential respondents were offered three options: (1) a 10-minute Web survey with the chance to win an iPad, (2) a 10-minute Web survey with a guaranteed nominal incentive ($5 amazon.com gift card), or (3) a shorter (5-7 minute) Web survey with no incentive. A total of 254 individuals responded to the Web survey request. Overwhelmingly, individuals chose a longer survey accompanied by an incentive compared to a shorter survey with no incentive (85% compared to 15%, P<.001). Of those opting for an incentive, a small, but not significant majority chose the chance to win an iPad over a guaranteed $5 gift card (56% compared to 44%). When given the choice, radiologists preferred a reward (either guaranteed or based on a lottery) to a less burdensome survey, indicating that researchers should focus more attention at increasing perceived benefits of completing a Web survey compared to decreasing perceived burden.

An Empirical Investigation on Chinese High School Students' Choice of Pursuing Undergraduate Education Abroad

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Jiankun

2014-01-01

Globalization has greatly promoted student mobility around the world. Being a developing economy, China witnessed significant growth of students studying internationally, especially with the number of students study at undergraduate programs. However, empirical research on high school students' choice and the decision-making process of pursuing…

The Efficacy of Choice Threats within School Accountability Systems: Results from Legislatively Induced Experiments. PEPG 05-01

Science.gov (United States)

West, Martin R.; Peterson, Paul E.

2005-01-01

Stigma and school voucher threats under a revised 2002 Florida accountability law have positive impacts on student performance. Stigma and public school choice threats under the U.S. federal accountability law, No Child Left Behind, do not have similar effects in Florida. Significant impacts of stigma, when combined with the voucher threat, are…

Developing and testing a positive theory of instrument choice: Renewable energy policy in the fifty American states

Science.gov (United States)

Ciocirlan, Cristina E.

The environmental economics literature consistently suggests that properly designed and implemented economic incentives are superior to command-and-control regulation in reducing pollution. Economic incentives, such as green taxes, cap-and-trade programs, tax incentives, are able to reduce pollution in a cost-effective manner, provide flexibility to industry and stimulate innovation in cleaner technologies. In the past few decades, both federal and state governments have shown increased use of economic incentives in environmental policy. Some states have embraced them in an active manner, while others have failed to do so. This research uses a three-step analysis. First, it asks why some states employ more economic incentives than others to stimulate consumption of renewable energy by the residential, commercial and industrial sectors. Second, it asks why some states employ stronger incentives than others. And third, it asks why certain states employ certain instruments, such as electricity surcharges, cap-and-trade programs, tax incentives or grants, while others do not. The first two analyses were conducted using factor analysis and multiple regression analysis, while the third analysis employed logistic regression models to analyze the data. Data for all three analyses were obtained from a combination of primary and secondary sources. To address these questions, a theory of instrument choice at the state level, which includes both internal and external determinants of policy-making, was developed and tested. The state level of analysis was chosen. States have proven to be pioneers in designing policies to address greenhouse gases (see, for instance, the recent cap-and-trade legislation passed in California). The theory was operationalized with the help of four models: needs/responsiveness, interest group influence, professionalism/capacity and innovation-and-diffusion. The needs/responsiveness model suggests that states tend to choose more and stronger economic

Instantaneous and cumulative influences of competition on impulsive choices in domestic chicks.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hidetoshi eAmita

2011-09-01

Full Text Available This study examined instantaneous and cumulative effects of competitive interactions on impulsiveness in the inter-temporal choices in domestic chicks. Chicks were trained to peck colored beads to gain delayed food rewards (1 or 6 grains of millet delivered after a delay ranging between 0–4.5 s, and were tested in binary choices between a small-short delay option (SS and a large-long delay alternative (LL. To examine whether competitive foraging instantaneously changes impulsiveness, we intraindividually compared choices between two consecutive tests in different contexts, one with competitors and another without. We found that (1 the number of the choice of LL was not influenced by competition in the tests, but (2 the operant peck latency was shortened by competition, suggesting a socially enhanced incentive for food. To further examine the lasting changes, two groups of chicks were consecutively trained and tested daily for 2 weeks according to a behavioral titration procedure, one with competitors and another without. Inter-group comparisons of the choices revealed that (3 choice impulsiveness gradually decreased along development, while (4 the chicks trained in competition maintained a higher level of impulsiveness. These results suggest that competitive foraging causes impulsive choices not by direct/contextual modification. Causal link between the instantaneous enhancement of incentive and the gradual effects on impulsivity remains to be examined. Some (yet unspecified factors may be indirectly involved.

Loci of Causality and Orientation in Occupational and Educational Choices

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kalervo Friberg

2013-06-01

Full Text Available A student self-determination profile of occupational and educational choices was examined through the concepts of Locus of Causality and Locus of Orientation. Research questions associated with respondents’ certainty of occupation and orientation to vocational education were answered. The tested hypotheses were as follows: (a Independence, initiative, self-guidance, choice of discussion forums, and gender are related to certainty of future occupation choice and choice of vocational education; (b certainty of occupation relates to choosing vocational education; (c negatively biased media lessens interest in vocational education; and (d vocational education choices are related to gender. A survey of ninth-grade students in Finnish comprehensive school was conducted after implementation of a work-orientation program defined in the national comprehensive school curriculum. At the local school system level, 649 subjects of the mean ages of 16.0 years participated in an Internet survey in two school districts in southwestern Finland in 2008. The variables were inserted in Linear Multiple Regression Analysis in IBM SPSS. The means of vocational school choice and certainty of occupation, and vocational school choice and negative media image were compared in SPSS means. An independent-samples t test for vocational school choice and sex was conducted. Statistically significant regression models of loci of orientation and locus of causality were found. The more the respondents were certain of their occupation choice, the more they expressed their secondary education orientation to be vocational school. When students discussed their choices less at home, their orientation to vocational education weakened. A negative media image was not associated with vocational school choice in this data. The measured means for girls’ and boys’ orientations to vocational school did not show statistically significant differences.

Factors influencing physicians' choice of workplace: systematic review of drivers of attrition and policy interventions to address them.

Science.gov (United States)

El Koussa, Maria; Atun, Rifat; Bowser, Diana; Kruk, Margaret E

2016-12-01

The movement of skilled physicians from the public to the private sector is a key constraint to achieving universal health coverage and is currently affecting health systems worldwide. This systematic review aims to assess factors influencing physicians' choice of workplace, and policy interventions for retaining physicians in the public sector. Five literature databases were searched. Studies were included in the review if they focused on at least one of the following criteria: (i) incentives or motivators for retaining physicians in the public sector, (ii) pull factors that encouraged physicians to move to the private sector, (iii) push factors that forced physicians to leave the public sector, (iv) policy interventions or case studies that addressed physician retention in the public sector, and (v) qualitative reviews of policy interventions that were implemented in different health system settings. Nineteen articles met the inclusion criteria. Six major themes that affected physicians' choice of workplace were identified including: financial incentives, career development, infrastructure and staffing, professional work environment, workload and autonomy. The majority of the studies suggested that the use of financial incentives was a motivator in retaining physicians in the public sector. The review also identified policy interventions including: regulatory controls, incentives and management reforms. Regulatory controls and incentives were the two most frequently reported policy interventions. While factors affecting physicians' choice of workplace are country specific, financial incentives and professional development are core factors. Other factors are highly influenced by context, and thus, it would be useful for future cross-country research to use standardized data collection tools, allowing comparison of contextual factors as well as the examination of how context affects physician retention in the public sector.

Secondary school pupils' food choices around schools in a London borough: Fast food and walls of crisps.

Science.gov (United States)

Caraher, M; Lloyd, S; Mansfield, M; Alp, C; Brewster, Z; Gresham, J

2016-08-01

The objective was to observe and document food behaviours of secondary school pupils from schools in a London borough. The research design combined a number of methods which included geographic information system (GIS) mapping of food outlets around three schools, systemised observations of food purchasing in those outlets before, during and after school, and focus groups conducted with pupils of those schools to gather their views in respect to those food choices. Results are summarised under the five 'A's of Access, Availability, Affordability and Acceptability & Attitudes: Access in that there were concentrations of food outlets around the schools. The majority of pupil food purchases were from newsagents, small local shops and supermarkets of chocolate, crisps (potato chips), fizzy drinks and energy drinks. Availability of fast food and unhealthy options were a feature of the streets surrounding the schools, with 200 m the optimal distance pupils were prepared to walk from and back to school at lunchtime. Affordability was ensured by the use of a consumer mentality and pupils sought out value for money offers; group purchasing of 'two for one' type offers encouraged this trend. Pupils reported healthy items on sale in school as expensive, and also that food was often sold in smaller portion sizes than that available from external food outlets. Acceptability and Attitudes, in that school food was not seen as 'cool', queuing for school food was not acceptable but queuing for food from takeaways was not viewed negatively; for younger pupils energy drinks were 'cool'. In conclusion, pupils recognised that school food was healthier but provided several reasons for not eating in school related to the five 'A's above. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Incentive structure in team-based learning: graded versus ungraded Group Application exercises.

Science.gov (United States)

Deardorff, Adam S; Moore, Jeremy A; McCormick, Colleen; Koles, Paul G; Borges, Nicole J

2014-04-21

Previous studies on team-based learning (TBL) in medical education demonstrated improved learner engagement, learner satisfaction, and academic performance; however, a paucity of information exists on modifications of the incentive structure of "traditional" TBL practices. The current study investigates the impact of modification to conventional Group Application exercises by examining student preference and student perceptions of TBL outcomes when Group Application exercises are excluded from TBL grades. During the 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 academic years, 175 students (95.6% response rate) completed a 22-item multiple choice survey followed by 3 open response questions at the end of their second year of medical school. These students had participated in a TBL supplemented preclinical curriculum with graded Group Application exercises during year one and ungraded Group Application exercises during year two of medical school. Chi-square analyses showed significant differences between grading categories for general assessment of TBL, participation and communication, intra-team discussion, inter-team discussion, student perceptions of their own effort and development of teamwork skills. Furthermore, 83.8% of students polled prefer ungraded Group Application exercises with only 7.2% preferring graded and 9.0% indicating no preference. The use of ungraded Group Application exercises appears to be a successful modification of TBL, making it more "student-friendly" while maintaining the goals of active learning and development of teamwork skills.

From Here to There and Back Again: The Story of a Mother, Her Son, Disability, and School Choice

Science.gov (United States)

Mann, Glenys

2016-01-01

Nelly and her children live in Queensland, Australia. When it came time for her second youngest son to start school, Nelly was not prepared for the difficulty that she had enrolling him at the school of her choice. In spite of her son's disability, Nelly thought that it was natural that he would go to his local school with his sister. It is not…

Photovoltaic Incentive Design Handbook

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hoff, T. E.

2006-12-01

Investments in customer-owned grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) energy systems are growing at a steady pace. This is due, in part, to the availability of attractive economic incentives offered by public state agencies and utilities. In the United States, these incentives have largely been upfront lump payments tied to the system capacity rating. While capacity-based ''buydowns'' have stimulated the domestic PV market, they have been criticized for subsidizing systems with potentially poor energy performance. As a result, the industry has been forced to consider alternative incentive structures, particularly ones that pay based on long-term measured performance. The industry, however, lacks consensus in the debate over the tradeoffs between upfront incentive payments versus longer-term payments for energy delivery. This handbook is designed for agencies and utilities that offer or intend to offer incentive programs for customer-owned PV systems. Its purpose is to help select, design, and implement incentive programs that best meet programmatic goals. The handbook begins with a discussion of the various available incentive structures and then provides qualitative and quantitative tools necessary to design the most appropriate incentive structure. It concludes with program administration considerations.

Financial incentives to promote active travel: an evidence review and economic framework.

Science.gov (United States)

Martin, Adam; Suhrcke, Marc; Ogilvie, David

2012-12-01

Financial incentives, including taxes and subsidies, can be used to encourage behavior change. They are common in transport policy for tackling externalities associated with use of motor vehicles, and in public health for influencing alcohol consumption and smoking behaviors. Financial incentives also offer policymakers a compromise between "nudging," which may be insufficient for changing habitual behavior, and regulations that restrict individual choice. The literature review identified studies published between January 1997 and January 2012 of financial incentives relating to any mode of travel in which the impact on active travel, physical activity, or obesity levels was reported. It encompassed macroenvironmental schemes, such as gasoline taxes, and microenvironmental schemes, such as employer-subsidized bicycles. Five relevant reviews and 20 primary studies (of which nine were not included in the reviews) were identified. The results show that more-robust evidence is required if policymakers are to maximize the health impact of fiscal policy relating to transport schemes of this kind. Drawing on a literature review and insights from the SLOTH (sleep, leisure, occupation, transportation, and home-based activities) time-budget model, this paper argues that financial incentives may have a larger role in promoting walking and cycling than is acknowledged generally. Copyright © 2012 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Do motivational incentives reduce the inhibition deficit in ADHD?

Science.gov (United States)

Shanahan, Michelle A; Pennington, Bruce F; Willcutt, Erik W

2008-01-01

The primary goal of this study was to test three competing theories of ADHD: the inhibition theory, the motivational theory, and a dual deficit theory. Previous studies have produced conflicting findings about the effects of incentives on executive processes in ADHD. In the present study of 25 children with ADHD and 30 typically developing controls, motivation was manipulated within the Stop Task. Stop signal reaction time was examined, as well as reaction time, its variability, and the number of errors in the primary choice reaction time task. Overall, the pattern of results supported the inhibition theory over the motivational or dual deficit hypotheses, as main effects of group were found for most key variables (ADHD group was worse), whereas the group by reward interaction predicted by the motivational and dual deficit accounts was not found. Hence, as predicted by the inhibition theory, children with ADHD performed worse than controls irrespective of incentives.

Expanding Choice: Tax Credits and Educational Access in Idaho

Science.gov (United States)

Carpenter, Dick M., II

2011-01-01

The past 30 years have seen a steady expansion in the educational choices available to parents as school choice programs have spread around the country. Enabling parents to choose schools that fit their children's unique needs is a win-win-win: Research shows that such school choice policies benefit the children who participate, give traditional…

Causes of blindness and career choice among pupils in a blind school; South Western Nigeria.

Science.gov (United States)

Fadamiro, Christianah Olufunmilayo

2014-01-01

The causes of Blindness vary from place to place with about 80% of it been avoidable. Furthermore Blind people face a lot of challenges in career choice thus limiting their economic potential and full integration into the society. This study aims at identifying the causes of blindness and career choice among pupils in a school for the blind in South -Western Nigeria. This is a descriptive study of causes of blindness and career choice among 38 pupils residing in a school for the blind at Ikere -Ekiti, South Western Nigeria. Thirty eight pupils comprising of 25 males (65.8%) and 13 females (34.2%) with age range from 6-39 years were seen for the study, The commonest cause of blindness was cataract with 14 cases (36.84%) while congenital glaucoma and infection had an equal proportion of 5 cases each (13.16%). Avoidable causes constituted the greatest proportion of the causes 27 (71.05%) while unavoidable causes accounted for 11 (28.9%). The law career was the most desired profession by the pupils 11 (33.3%) followed by Teaching 9 (27.3%), other desired profession includes engineering, journalism and farming. The greatest proportion of causes of blindness identified in this study is avoidable. There is the need to create public awareness on some of the notable causes particularly cataract and motivate the community to utilize available eye care services Furthermore there is need for career talk in schools for the blind to enable them choose career where their potential can be fully maximized.

Intrinsic motivation and extrinsic incentives jointly predict performance: a 40-year meta-analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Cerasoli, Christopher P; Nicklin, Jessica M; Ford, Michael T

2014-07-01

More than 4 decades of research and 9 meta-analyses have focused on the undermining effect: namely, the debate over whether the provision of extrinsic incentives erodes intrinsic motivation. This review and meta-analysis builds on such previous reviews by focusing on the interrelationship among intrinsic motivation, extrinsic incentives, and performance, with reference to 2 moderators: performance type (quality vs. quantity) and incentive contingency (directly performance-salient vs. indirectly performance-salient), which have not been systematically reviewed to date. Based on random-effects meta-analytic methods, findings from school, work, and physical domains (k = 183, N = 212,468) indicate that intrinsic motivation is a medium to strong predictor of performance (ρ = .21-45). The importance of intrinsic motivation to performance remained in place whether incentives were presented. In addition, incentive salience influenced the predictive validity of intrinsic motivation for performance: In a "crowding out" fashion, intrinsic motivation was less important to performance when incentives were directly tied to performance and was more important when incentives were indirectly tied to performance. Considered simultaneously through meta-analytic regression, intrinsic motivation predicted more unique variance in quality of performance, whereas incentives were a better predictor of quantity of performance. With respect to performance, incentives and intrinsic motivation are not necessarily antagonistic and are best considered simultaneously. Future research should consider using nonperformance criteria (e.g., well-being, job satisfaction) as well as applying the percent-of-maximum-possible (POMP) method in meta-analyses. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

Expanding Choice: Tax Credits and Educational Access in Indiana

Science.gov (United States)

Carpenter, Dick M., II; Ross, John K.

2009-01-01

One of the oldest and more popular forms of school choice in the United States is educational tax credits. Like many other types of school choice, educational tax credits enable parents to send their children to the K-12 school of their choice, public or private, religious or non-religious. One type of educational tax credits, tax-credit…

Incentives for preventing smoking in children and adolescents.

Science.gov (United States)

Hefler, Marita; Liberato, Selma C; Thomas, David P

2017-06-06

not require biochemical validation of self-reported tobacco use for study inclusion. Where possible we combined eligible studies to calculate pooled estimates at the longest follow-up, using the Mantel-Haenszel fixed-effect method, grouping studies by study design. We identified three eligible RCTs and five CTs, including participants aged 11 to 14 years, who were non-smokers at baseline. Of the eight trials identified, six had analyzable data relevant for this review, which contributed to meta-analyses (7275 participants in total: 4003 intervention; 3272 control; 2484 participants after adjusting for clustering). All except one of the studies tested the 'Smokefree Class Competition' (SFC), which has been widely implemented throughout Europe. In this competition, classes with youth generally between the ages of 11 and 14 years commit to being smoke-free for a six-month period, and report their smoking status regularly. If 90% or more of the class are non-smokers at the end of the six months, the class goes into a competition to win prizes. The one study that was not a trial of the SFC was a controlled trial in which schools in two communities were assigned to the intervention, with schools in a third community acting as controls. Students in the intervention community with lower smoking rates at the end of the project (one school year) received rewards.Most studies resulted in statistically non-significant results. Only one study of the SFC reported a significant effect of the competition on the prevention of smoking at the longest follow-up. However, this study was at risk of multiple biases, and when we calculated the adjusted risk ratio (RR) we no longer detected a statistically significant difference. The pooled RR for the more robust RCTs (3 studies, n = 3056 participants/1107 adjusted for clustering) suggests that there is no statistically significant effect of incentives, in the form of the SFC, to prevent smoking initiation among children and adolescents in

Incentives, health promotion and equality.

Science.gov (United States)

Voigt, Kristin

2012-07-01

The use of incentives to encourage individuals to adopt 'healthier' behaviours is an increasingly popular instrument in health policy. Much of the literature has been critical of 'negative' incentives, often due to concerns about equality; 'positive' incentives, however, have largely been welcomed as an instrument for the improvement of population health and possibly the reduction of health inequalities. The aim of this paper is to provide a more systematic assessment of the use of incentives from the perspective of equality. The paper begins with an overview of existing and proposed incentive schemes. I then suggest that the distinction between 'positive' and 'negative' incentives - or 'carrots' and 'sticks' - is of limited use in distinguishing those incentive schemes that raise concerns of equality from those that do not. The paper assesses incentive schemes with respect to two important considerations of equality: equality of access and equality of outcomes. While our assessment of incentive schemes will, ultimately, depend on various empirical facts, the paper aims to advance the debate by identifying some of the empirical questions we need to ask. The paper concludes by considering a number of trade-offs and caveats relevant to the assessment of incentive schemes.

Incentive-based regulation of CO2 emissions from international aviation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carlsson, F.; Hammar, H.

2002-01-01

We explore the possibilities of using incentive-based environmental regulations of CO 2 emissions from international civil aviation. In theory incentive-based instruments such as an emission charge or a tradable emission permit system are better regulations than so-called command-and-control regulations such as emission limits or technology standards. However, the implementation of these instruments is a complex issue. We therefore describe and discuss how an emission charge and a tradable emission permit system for international aviation should be designed in order to improve efficiency. We also compare these two types of regulations. In brief, we find that an emission charge and a tradable emission permit system in which the permits are auctioned have more or less the same characteristics. The main advantage of a tradable emission permit system is that the effect, in terms of emission reductions, is known. On the other hand, we show that under uncertainty an emission charge is preferred. The choice of regulation is a political decision and it does not seem likely that an environmental charge or a tradable emission permit system would be implemented without consideration of the costs of the regulation. Revenue-neutral charges or gratis distribution of permits would, for this reason, be realistic choices of regulations. However, such actions are likely to result in less stringent regulations and other negative welfare effects.(author)

PECULIARITIES OF MOTIVATION AND SELF-ATTITUDE DURING THE CHOICE OF SPECIALIZATION IN A MEDICAL HIGH SCHOOL

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

T. V. Malyutina

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Personal backgrounds of the choice of specialization by graduates of a medical high school are studied in this article. The hypothesis is checked that the strategies of testees in the situation of the choice of specialization are determined by the peculiarities of self-attitude and motivation. Depending on the specifity of perception of the situation of specialization 4 groups of testees are distinguished and described. They have different types of an individual strategy: functionally efficient, optimal, investigative and troublous.

Factors influencing physicians’ choice of workplace: systematic review of drivers of attrition and policy interventions to address them

Science.gov (United States)

El Koussa, Maria; Atun, Rifat; Bowser, Diana; Kruk, Margaret E

2016-01-01

Objectives The movement of skilled physicians from the public to the private sector is a key constraint to achieving universal health coverage and is currently affecting health systems worldwide. This systematic review aims to assess factors influencing physicians’ choice of workplace, and policy interventions for retaining physicians in the public sector. Methods Five literature databases were searched. Studies were included in the review if they focused on at least one of the following criteria: (i) incentives or motivators for retaining physicians in the public sector, (ii) pull factors that encouraged physicians to move to the private sector, (iii) push factors that forced physicians to leave the public sector, (iv) policy interventions or case studies that addressed physician retention in the public sector, and (v) qualitative reviews of policy interventions that were implemented in different health system settings. Results Nineteen articles met the inclusion criteria. Six major themes that affected physicians’ choice of workplace were identified including: financial incentives, career development, infrastructure and staffing, professional work environment, workload and autonomy. The majority of the studies suggested that the use of financial incentives was a motivator in retaining physicians in the public sector. The review also identified policy interventions including: regulatory controls, incentives and management reforms. Regulatory controls and incentives were the two most frequently reported policy interventions. Conclusion While factors affecting physicians’ choice of workplace are country specific, financial incentives and professional development are core factors. Other factors are highly influenced by context, and thus, it would be useful for future cross–country research to use standardized data collection tools, allowing comparison of contextual factors as well as the examination of how context affects physician retention in the public

Public Choice at the Little Bighorn

OpenAIRE

James E. McClure; T. Norman Van Cott

1993-01-01

History professors have long portrayed Custer’s stand at the Little Bighorn River in terms of the managerial quirks and personality flaws of the central characters. The discussion in Evan Connell’s (1984) book, Son of the Morning Star, illuminates the Last Stand in terms of economic incentives. In this paper we argue that Custer’s legendary Last Stand offers economics instructors with an extraordinary opportunity to pique students’ interest in the public choice paradigm.

Comparisons among three types of generalist physicians: Personal characteristics, medical school experiences, financial aid, and other factors influencing career choice.

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, G; Veloski, J J; Barzansky, B; Hojat, M; Diamond, J; Silenzio, V M

1996-01-01

A national survey of family physicians, general internists, and general pediatricians was conducted in the US to examine differences among the three groups of generalists physicians, with particular regard to the factors influencing their choice of generalist career. Family physicians were more likely to have made their career decision before medical school, and were more likely to have come from inner-city or rural areas. Personal values and early role models play a very important role in influencing their career choice. In comparison, a higher proportion of general internists had financial aid service obligations and their choice of the specialty was least influenced by personal values. General pediatricians had more clinical experiences either in primary care or with underserved populations, and they regarded medical school experiences as more important in influencing their specialty choice than did the other two groups. Admission committees may use these specialty-related factors to develop strategies to attract students into each type of generalist career.

Using smart card technology to monitor the eating habits of children in a school cafeteria: 3. The nutritional significance of beverage and dessert choices.

Science.gov (United States)

Lambert, N; Plumb, J; Looise, B; Johnson, I T; Harvey, I; Wheeler, C; Robinson, M; Rolfe, P

2005-08-01

The consumption patterns of beverages and desserts features highly in the current debate surrounding children's nutrition. The aim of this study was to continuously monitor the choice of beverages and desserts made by nearly 1000 children in a school cafeteria. A newly developed smart card system was used to monitor the food choices of diners (7-16-year-old boys) in a school cafeteria over 89 days. A wide variety of beverages and desserts were on offer daily. Despite coming from an affluent, well-educated demographic group, the boys' choices of beverages and desserts mirrored those of children in general. Buns and cookies were over 10 times more popular than fresh fruits and yogurts. Sugary soft-drinks were over 20 times more popular than fresh fruit drinks and milk combined. Appropriate choices could, over a month, reduce intake of added sugar by over 800 g and fat by over 200 g. The smart card system was very effective at monitoring total product choices for nearly 1000 diners. In agreement with a recent national school meal survey, where choice is extensive, children show a preference for products high in fat and/or sugar. The consequences of these preferences are discussed.

Financial incentives for generic drugs: case study on a reimbursement program

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marcos Inocencio

2010-06-01

Full Text Available Objective: To discuss the use of financial incentives in choice of medication and to assess the economic results concerning the use of financial incentives to promote the use of genetic medication in lieu of reference drugs in a company with a reimbursement program. Methods: A case study was carried out in a large supermarket. The data was obtained in the company responsible for managing medication. The study reached 83,625 users between August 2005 and July 2007. The data was submitted to regressions in order to analyze trends and hypothesis tests to assess differences in medication consumption. The results were compared with general data regarding medication consumption of five other organizations and also with data about the national consumption of generic medication in Brazil. Results: The use of financial incentives to replace brand medications for generics, in the company studied, increased the consumption of generic drugs without reducing the company expenses with the reimbursement programs. Conclusions: This study show the occurrence of unplanned results (increase in the consumption of medications and the positive consequences of the reimbursement program concerning access to medication.

Incentive delegation and collusion

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mukherjee, A.

2000-01-01

In an infinitely repeated duopoly the implications of strategic incentive delegation are shown. Whether incentive delegation makes consumers or producers better-off depends on the nature of competition. WeThe presence or absence of incentive delegation may affect the interests of the consumers and

Effect of Nutritional Intervention on Food Choices of French Students in Middle School Cafeterias, Using an Interactive Educational Software Program (Nutri-Advice)

OpenAIRE

Turnin , Marie-Christine; Buisson , Jean-Christophe; Ahluwalia , Namanjeet; Cazals , Laurent; Bolzonella-Pene , Caroline; Fouquet-Martineau , Caroline; Martini , Pascale; Tauber , Maïté; Hanaire , Hélène

2016-01-01

International audience; Objective : To evaluate the impact of interactive Nutri-Advice kiosks on children's nutritional skills and their ability to apply it to food choices in a middle school cafeteria menu (food choice competencies). Design : Quasi-experimental design; pre/post-test. Setting : Freestanding interactive computer terminals (kiosks) were installed in three middle schools in Toulouse, France. Participants : A total of 580 children were enrolled into the study (mean age, 13 ± 1 ye...

Energy efficient appliance choice under the EU labeling scheme

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mills, Bradford F.; Schleich, Joachim [Fraunhofer-Institut fuer System- und Innovationsforschung (ISI), Karlsruhe (Germany)

2010-02-15

This paper extends the existing empirical literature on consumers' choices when exposed to energy labeling schemes by allowing choices to depend on household socio-economic characteristics, technology-related factors, behavioral and motivational factors, and country conditions in a multi-country analysis. To account for a possible knowledge-based selection bias, the econometric model distinguishes label class knowledge from the energy class choice decision. As a general finding, most covariates show stronger relationships with knowledge of labeling class than with the choice of energy efficiency class. Four factors show particularly strong and expected influences on label class awareness. First, general awareness of household energy use and energy saving technologies spills over into awareness of the energy class of specific appliances. Second, socioeconomic characteristics mater, as education increases label class awareness and older age reduces awareness. Third, economic incentives matter, as stated economic importance of energy saving and higher country electricity prices both generate greater label awareness. By contrast, stated concerns about global warming do not appear to have a broad impact on awareness. Fourth, effective country implementation of the labeling scheme raises label awareness. More surprisingly, most factors that promote awareness of appliance energy classes have a limited influence on actual appliance energy class choice. Efficient energy behavior in the household is not strongly linked to appliance energy class choice. Socio-economic characteristics also have limited influence. This finding is inline with other studies that find that household socio-economic characteristics have relatively weak associations with the adoption of energy efficient technologies (Mills and Schleich 2010, Brohmann et al. 2009). In fact, with education it is vocational degrees rather than university degrees that are positively associated with the propensity to

The Power and Pitfalls of Education Incentives. Discussion Paper 2011-07

Science.gov (United States)

Allan, Bradley M.; Fryer, Roland G., Jr.

2011-01-01

There is widespread agreement that America's school system is in desperate need of reform, but many educational interventions are ineffective, expensive, or difficult to implement. Recent incentive programs, however, demonstrate that well-designed rewards to students can improve achievement at relatively low costs. Fryer and Allan draw on…

Why Don't Housing Choice Voucher Recipients Live Near Better Schools? Insights from Big Data

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Ellen, Ingrid Gould; Horn, Keren Mertens; Schwartz, Amy Ellen

2016-01-01

Housing choice vouchers provide low-income households with additional income to spend on rental housing in the private market. The assistance vouchers provide is substantial, offering the potential to dramatically expand the neighborhood--and associated public schools--that low-income households can reach. However, existing research on the program…

Choice Orientations, Discussions, and Prospects.

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Raywid, Mary Anne

1992-01-01

Examining the contemporary school choice debate yields arguments that are education, economics, governance, and policy driven. To "break the exclusive franchise," school districts are increasingly sponsoring school operation and education services supplied by multiple sources, and states are discussing sponsorship of schools by entities…

Teacher Pay for Performance: Experimental Evidence from the Project on Incentives in Teaching. [Executive Summary

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Springer, Matthew G.; Hamilton, Laura; McCaffrey, Daniel F.; Ballou, Dale; Le, Vi-Nhuan; Pepper, Matthew; Lockwood, J. R.; Stecher, Brian M.

2013-01-01

The Project on Incentives in Teaching (POINT) was a three-year study conducted in the Metropolitan Nashville School System from 2006-07 through 2008-09, in which middle school mathematics teachers voluntarily participated in a controlled experiment to assess the effect of financial rewards for teachers whose students showed unusually large gains…

Consenting options for posthumous organ donation: presumed consent and incentives are not favored

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Hammami Muhammad M

2012-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Posthumous organ procurement is hindered by the consenting process. Several consenting systems have been proposed. There is limited information on public relative attitudes towards various consenting systems, especially in Middle Eastern/Islamic countries. Methods We surveyed 698 Saudi Adults attending outpatient clinics at a tertiary care hospital. Preference and perception of norm regarding consenting options for posthumous organ donation were explored. Participants ranked (1, most agreeable the following, randomly-presented, options from 1 to 11: no-organ-donation, presumed consent, informed consent by donor-only, informed consent by donor-or-surrogate, and mandatory choice; the last three options ± medical or financial incentive. Results Mean(SD age was 32(9 year, 27% were males, 50% were patients’ companions, 60% had ≥ college education, and 20% and 32%, respectively, knew an organ donor or recipient. Mandated choice was among the top three choices for preference of 54% of respondents, with an overall median[25%,75%] ranking score of 3[2,6], and was preferred over donor-or-surrogate informed consent (4[2,7], p vs. 11[6,11], respectively, p = 0.002. Compared to females, males more perceived donor-or-surrogate informed consent as the norm (3[1,6] vs. 5[3,7], p vs. 8[4,9], p vs. 5[2,7], p  Conclusions We conclude that: 1 most respondents were in favor of posthumous organ donation, 2 mandated choice system was the most preferred and presumed consent system was the least preferred, 3 there was no difference between preference and perception of norm in consenting systems ranking, and 4 financial (especially in females and medical (especially in males incentives reduced preference.

Career choices for public health: cohort studies of graduates from UK medical schools.

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Goldacre, Michael J; Laxton, Louise; Lambert, Trevor W; Webster, Premila

2011-12-01

The aim of this paper is to describe UK-trained doctors' early intentions about seeking careers in public health and their eventual speciality destinations. Analysis of longitudinal studies of medical graduates from all UK medical schools in selected year-of-qualification cohorts from 1974 to 2008; data collected by postal questionnaires at various times after qualifying; and selection, for this paper, of doctors who expressed an early preference for a career in public health and/or who eventually practised in it. Of all doctors eventually practising in public health, for whom we had early choices, public health had been the unreserved first choice of 8% (10/125) in their first post-qualification year, 27% (33/122) in their third year and 59% (51/86) in their fifth year. Including first choices for public health 'tied' with an equal preference for a different speciality, and doctors' second and third choices for public health, 19% (24/125) of practising public health doctors had considered public health as a possible career in their first post-graduation year, 41% (50/122) in the third and 83% (71/86) in the fifth year. Comparisons with other specialities show that doctors in public health chose their speciality relatively late after qualification.

Examination about the effects of future career choice on time perspective in Japanese high school students.

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Tsuzuki, Manabu

2015-03-30

This study investigated types of career choice in high school students and examined the effects of career paths on time perspective development. The participants were 4,756 third grade students from nine public high schools in Tokyo. The high school questionnaire survey was conducted throughout autumn of 2008, 2009, and 2010. One year later, 962 graduates participated in the follow-up questionnaire survey by post. Distinguishing gender difference among career paths was found. Girls tend to choose significantly shorter learning careers (p time perspective than other groups (p time perspective between "school to school transition" and "school to work transition". It is suggested that the "school to work transition" tends to be more critical for adolescents and has negative effects on time perspective. These results suggest that the goal content in careers may promote or inhibit the formation of time perspectives during the graduation transition.

Schooling girls in a rural community: An examination of female science identity and science career choices

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Fowler, Melisa Diane Creasy

There is a gap in existence between the number of males and females entering science careers. Research has begun to focus largely on how identity impacts the selection of such careers. While much research has been done to examine the factors that impact student identity, little work has been done to examine what happens to female students who have been successful in science in a rural K-12 school once they leave high school and enter the world of academia. Thus, this study examined the following questions: (1) How do three recent female high school graduates from rural K-12 high schools narrate their identity? (2) How do the females narrate their experiences in a rural community and high school in relation to their science identity? (3) What do the participants describe as influencing their academic and career choices as they transition into the life of a college student? This study involved three female participants from a small rural community in a southeastern state. Each female has lived their entire life in the community and has attended only one K-12 school. All three females ranked in the top ten of their senior class and excelled in their science coursework. Additionally, each female elected to attend college locally and to live at home. The study utilized the qualitative methodology of interpretive biography. The researcher used a guided interview protocol with participants which served as the basis for the creation of their narrative biographies. The biographies were then analyzed for emergent themes. Sociocultural theory, identity theory, and critical feminism provided the theoretical frameworks utilized in data analysis. Findings from this study suggested that there were many differing factors influencing the science identity and career choices of the females under study. However, the most salient factor impacting their choices was their desire to remain in their hometown. Directions for future research suggestions involve exploring female students who

The Conceivable Benefits of Being Comprehensive--Finnish Local Education Authorities on Recognising and Controlling the Social Costs of School Choice

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Varjo, Janne; Kalalahti, Mira

2015-01-01

Since the 1980s, numerous education reforms have sought to dismantle centralised bureaucracies and replace them with devolved systems of schooling that emphasise parental choice and competition between increasingly diversified types of schools. Nevertheless, the "Finnish variety of "post-comprehensivism" continues to emphasise…

Satisfaction, Motivation, and Retention in Academic Faculty Incentive Compensation Systems: A CERA Survey.

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Willis, Deanna; Williams, Jane; Gebke, Kevin; Bergus, George

2018-02-01

The use of incentive compensation in academic family medicine has been a topic of interest for many years, yet little is known about the impact of these systems on individual faculty members. Better understanding is needed about the relationship of incentive compensation systems (ICSs) to ICS satisfaction, motivation, and retention among academic family medicine faculty. The Council of Academic Family Medicine (CAFM) Educational Research Alliance (CERA) conducted a nationwide survey of its members in 2013. This study reports the results of the incentive compensation question subset of the larger omnibus survey. The overall response rate was 53%. The majority (70% [360/511]) of academic faculty reported that they are eligible for some type of incentive compensation. The faculty reported moderate satisfaction, with only 38% being satisfied or highly satisfied with their ICS. Overall mean motivation and intent to remain in their current position were similar. The percentage of total income available as an incentive explained less than 10% of the variance of those outcomes. Faculty perceptions of appropriateness of the measures, understanding of the measurement and reward systems, and perception of due process are all related to satisfaction with the ICS, motivation, and retention. ICSs are common in academic family medicine, yet most faculty do not find them to motivate their choice of activities or promote staying in their current position. Design and implementation are both important in promoting faculty satisfaction with the ICS, motivation, and retention.

Constructing a multiple choice test to measure elementary school teachers' Pedagogical Content Knowledge of technology education.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Rohaan, E.J.; Taconis, R.; Jochems, W.M.G.

2009-01-01

This paper describes the construction and validation of a multiple choice test to measure elementary school teachers' Pedagogical Content Knowledge of technology education. Pedagogical Content Knowledge is generally accepted to be a crucial domain of teacher knowledge and is, therefore, an important

Three experiments exploring how preferences, motivations and incentives influence behaviour

OpenAIRE

ZACHARY JAMES MOAR DORNER

2018-01-01

We can make better choices with a deeper understanding of what drives our behaviours. This thesis uses economic experiments to shed light on health and environmental behaviours. The first paper identifies that risk averse people care about the security of supply of city water. The second paper finds that small monetary payments can work better than high monetary payments for motivating people because large incentives can significantly reduce intrinsic motivation. The third paper shows that mo...

Researching School Choice in Regional Australia: What Can This Tell Us about the Ethnographic Imaginary?

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Tsolidis, Georgina

2016-01-01

This is an exploration of methodological debates related to ethnographic research. Reflection on conducting research on school choice in an Australian regional centre is the beginning point for a discussion of what Appadurai describes as a dialectical relationship between the neighbourhood and its capacity to exist and reshape itself in relation…

Anatomy of British Business School Brands: Attributes Affecting Choice Among Pakistani Postgraduate Students

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Usman Ahmad

2014-06-01

Full Text Available The research studies that investigate business school brands from an Asian consumer perspective are scarce. Current study aims at discovering the branding attributes of UK Business Schools that influence Pakistani business students to apply for admission in higher degrees. Following a naturalistic tradition, data has been collected through semi-structured interviews from a sample of 25 students who were planning to study in United Kingdom. The respondents were identified through personal sources and were later selected using the purposive sampling technique. Thematic analysis was performed to generate themes from the collected data. The data analysis generated four dominant themes that influence the choice of a business school in United Kingdom. These are “financial assistance”, “employability”, “brand reputation” and “rankings”. The study is a pioneer work in the field of university branding from a developing country perspective of Pakistan. The research will be useful to British higher education marketers in devising student-centered branding initiatives. It will also benefit the Pakistani academia, as the country can develop business school brands as well by imparting these attributes to better compete with business schools in UK.

The ABCs of incentive-based treatment in health care: a behavior analytic framework to inform research and practice

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Meredith SE

2014-03-01

Full Text Available Steven E Meredith,1 Brantley P Jarvis,2 Bethany R Raiff,3 Alana M Rojewski,2 Allison Kurti,2 Rachel N Cassidy,2 Philip Erb,2 Jolene R Sy,4 Jesse Dallery2 1Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA; 2Department of Psychology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA; 3Department of Psychology, Rowan University, Glassboro, NJ, USA; 4Saint Louis University School of Social Work, St Louis, MO, USA Abstract: Behavior plays an important role in health promotion. Exercise, smoking cessation, medication adherence, and other healthy behavior can help prevent, or even treat, some diseases. Consequently, interventions that promote healthy behavior have become increasingly common in health care settings. Many of these interventions award incentives contingent upon preventive health-related behavior. Incentive-based interventions vary considerably along several dimensions, including who is targeted in the intervention, which behavior is targeted, and what type of incentive is used. More research on the quantitative and qualitative features of many of these variables is still needed to inform treatment. However, extensive literature on basic and applied behavior analytic research is currently available to help guide the study and practice of incentive-based treatment in health care. In this integrated review, we discuss how behavior analytic research and theory can help treatment providers design and implement incentive-based interventions that promote healthy behavior. Keywords: incentives, contingency management, conditional cash transfer, pay-for-performance, wellness

District of Columbia Opportunity Scholarship Program: Additional Policies and Procedures Would Improve Internal Controls and Program Operations. Report to Congressional Requesters. GAO-08-9

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Ashby, Cornelia M.; Franzel, Jeanette M.

2007-01-01

The D.C. School Choice Incentive Act created the first private kindergarten-through-grade-12 school-choice program supported by federal funds. The program was named the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP). The United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) was asked to assess the (1) accountability mechanisms governing the use of…

[Performance-related middle management in medical teaching. Attractiveness of incentive tools from the perspective of the teachers].

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Hofer, M; Pieper, M; Sadlo, M; Reipen, J; Heussen, N

2008-08-01

German medical schools are increasingly challenged by the competition for public funds and talented students. Therefore. many curriculum planners, deans and school administrators plan to implement a systematic and comprehensive awarding system for good teaching. The OBJECTIVE of this study was to elaborate which specific incentives would be most effective to increase the motivation and enthusiasm for teaching among basic scientists as well as residents and attendings involved in medical education. In addition, a cost-effective model should be developed, which could be used as an adjustable blue-print for an awarding system. Based on literature search, existing approaches to rewards and incentives for medical teachers were analysed by an interdisciplinary committee in coordination with the members' department heads. According to german teaching methods and available resources, a catalogue of specific incentives has been designed and ranked by a representative sample of 200 medical teachers / faculty at two universities. Thus, a variety of favourite rewarding instruments could be elaborated, which were preferred by teachers in theoretical versus clinical disciplines. The majority of the medical teachers prefer heterogeneously monetary incentives and additional protected time, followed by career-effective incentives (tenure & promotion). The discussion reflects on a transferable catalogue of different rewarding instruments, including a cost-/benefit-analysis and prerequisite students' evaluation data. A single alteration of departmental teaching budgets does not seem to be sufficient. It seems rather advisable, also to strive for a variety of different incentives on a level that predominantly affects individual teaching personnel. Even with comparatively small amounts of money, significant effects on teachers' motivation can be achieved.

Panel presentation: Should some type of incentive regulation replace traditional methods for regulating LDCs?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Costello, K.W.

1992-01-01

State regulators should consider new approaches to regulating LDCs. They should seriously look at different incentive systems, even if only as an experiment, to address the major inefficiencies they see plaguing LDCs. Regulators have become more receptive in recent years to applying different incentive systems for historically heavily regulated industries such as the telecommunications and electric industries. In view of prevailing conditions in the natural gas industry, there is no good reason why regulators should not be as receptive to applying incentive systems for LDCs. For gas services offered in competitive markets, regulators should ask themselves whether regulation is necessary any longer. For services still requiring regulation, regulators should explore whether changes in traditional regulation are needed. While some PUCs have undertaken new regulatory practices, the question before them today is whether they should do more; whether, for example, states should accelerate their efforts toward adopting more flexible pricing and other incentive-based regulations or toward considering deregulating selected services. PUCs have different options. They can choose from among a large number of incentive systems. Their choices should hinge upon what they view as major sources of inefficiencies. For example, if uneconomical bypass is perceived as a problem then different price rules might constitute the cornerstone of an incentive-based policy. On the other hand, if excessive purchased-gas costs seem to be a major problem, a PUC may want to consider abolishing the PGA or modifying it in a form that would eliminate the cost-plus component

Effects of choice architecture and chef-enhanced meals on the selection and consumption of healthier school foods: a randomized clinical trial.

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Cohen, Juliana F W; Richardson, Scott A; Cluggish, Sarah A; Parker, Ellen; Catalano, Paul J; Rimm, Eric B

2015-05-01

Little is known about the long-term effect of a chef-enhanced menu on healthier food selection and consumption in school lunchrooms. In addition, it remains unclear if extended exposure to other strategies to promote healthier foods (eg, choice architecture) also improves food selection or consumption. To evaluate the short- and long-term effects of chef-enhanced meals and extended exposure to choice architecture on healthier school food selection and consumption. A school-based randomized clinical trial was conducted during the 2011-2012 school year among 14 elementary and middle schools in 2 urban, low-income school districts (intent-to-treat analysis). Included in the study were 2638 students in grades 3 through 8 attending participating schools (38.4% of eligible participants). Schools were first randomized to receive a professional chef to improve school meal palatability (chef schools) or to a delayed intervention (control group). To assess the effect of choice architecture (smart café), all schools after 3 months were then randomized to the smart café intervention or to the control group. School food selection was recorded, and consumption was measured using plate waste methods. After 3 months, vegetable selection increased in chef vs control schools (odds ratio [OR], 1.75; 95% CI, 1.36-2.24), but there was no effect on the selection of other components or on meal consumption. After long-term or extended exposure to the chef or smart café intervention, fruit selection increased in the chef (OR, 3.08; 95% CI, 2.23-4.25), smart café (OR, 1.45; 95% CI, 1.13-1.87), and chef plus smart café (OR, 3.10; 95% CI, 2.26-4.25) schools compared with the control schools, and consumption increased in the chef schools (OR, 0.17; 95% CI, 0.03-0.30 cups/d). Vegetable selection increased in the chef (OR, 2.54; 95% CI, 1.83-3.54), smart café (OR, 1.91; 95% CI, 1.46-2.50), and chef plus smart café schools (OR, 7.38, 95% CI, 5.26-10.35) compared with the control schools

School Choice or the Politics of Desperation? Black and Latinx Parents of Students with Dis/Abilities Selecting Charter Schools in Chicago

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Waitoller, Federico R.; Super, Gia

2017-01-01

In this paper, we focus on the city of Chicago to examine how Black and Latinx parents of students with dis/abilities1 engage with school choice. Using analytical tools from grounded theory (Strauss & Corbin, 1990) and a theoretical lens informed by critical notions of space, race and dis/ability, we analyze interviews with parents of students…

Burnout in Prospective Elementary School Teachers: Is It Related to Reasons for Choosing the Elementary School Teaching Major, Beliefs about the Teaching Career and Satisfaction with the Choice?

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Dundar, Sahin

2014-01-01

The present study was carried out to examine the relationships between elementary school teacher candidates' motivations for choosing the teaching profession, beliefs about the teaching profession, satisfaction with the choice, and burnout. The study was carried out with 171 senior elementary school teacher candidates at one public university in…

Early Implementation Experiences of the 2010 Teacher Incentive Fund Grantees. NCEE Study Snapshot. NCEE 2014-4021

Science.gov (United States)

National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, 2014

2014-01-01

The Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) provides grants to support performance-based compensation systems for teachers and principals in high-need schools. The study measures the impact of pay-for-performance bonuses as part of a comprehensive compensation system within a large, multisite random assignment study design. The treatment schools were to…

Economic Rationality in Choosing between Short-Term Bad-Health Choices and Longer-Term Good-Health Choices

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David Campbell

2013-11-01

Full Text Available Non-contagious, chronic disease has been identified as a global health risk. Poor lifestyle choices, such as smoking, alcohol, drug and solvent abuse, physical inactivity, and unhealthy diet have been identified as important factors affecting the increasing incidence of chronic disease. The following focuses on the circumstance affecting the lifestyle or behavioral choices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in remote-/very remote Australia. Poor behavioral choices are the result of endogenous characteristics that are influenced by a range of stressful exogenous variables making up the psychosocial determinants including social disenfranchisement, cultural loss, insurmountable tasks, the loss of volitional control and resource constraints. It is shown that poor behavioral choices can be economically rational; especially under highly stressful conditions. Stressful circumstances erode individual capacity to commit to long-term positive health alternatives such as self-investment in education. Policies directed at removing the impediments and providing incentives to behaviors involving better health choices can lead to reductions in smoking and alcohol consumption and improved health outcomes. Multijurisdictional culturally acceptable policies directed at distal variables relating to the psychosocial determinants of health and personal mastery and control can be cost effective. While the content of this paper is focused on the conditions of colonized peoples, it has broader relevance.

Effect of Nutritional Intervention on Food Choices of French Students in Middle School Cafeterias, Using an Interactive Educational Software Program (Nutri-Advice).

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Turnin, Marie-Christine; Buisson, Jean-Christophe; Ahluwalia, Namanjeet; Cazals, Laurent; Bolzonella-Pene, Caroline; Fouquet-Martineau, Caroline; Martini, Pascale; Tauber, Maïthé; Hanaire, Hélène

2016-02-01

To evaluate the impact of interactive Nutri-Advice kiosks on children's nutritional skills and their ability to apply it to food choices in a middle school cafeteria menu (food choice competencies). Quasi-experimental design; pre/post-test. Freestanding interactive computer terminals (kiosks) were installed in three middle schools in Toulouse, France. A total of 580 children were enrolled into the study (mean age, 13 ± 1 years). Each child's physiological profile was stored in a personal barcode card. During 1 school year, once a day, each child could access the kiosk with this card, trying to find the most balanced meal according to his or her profile and the food available on the cafeteria menu. Children's food choice competency changes and body mass index z-score were evaluated. Significance of change in food choice competencies (postintervention vs baseline) was examined using paired t test. Across the study, children chose significantly less cheese and pastry or desserts, and significantly more starchy food and dairy, and tended to choose fruits and vegetables more often. Body mass index z-score decreased significantly during the period. Personalized nutrition counseling through an interactive device has the potential to improve the food choice competencies of children. Copyright © 2016 Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

School Choice Research in Five European Countries: The Circulation of Stephen Ball's Concepts and Interpretations

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van Zanten, Agnès; Kosunen, Sonja

2013-01-01

This article analyzes the influence of Stephen Ball's work on research on markets and school choice in five European countries (Finland, France, Norway, Spain, and Sweden). The main focus is on the intellectual circulation of ideas, but the authors also take into account the relationship between ideas and social and political changes, as well as…

Why and How Do Parents Decide to Send Their Children to the Interdistrict School Choice Program at the Magnet Program for Math and Science

Science.gov (United States)

Doyle, Kevin S.

The New Jersey Interdistrict School Choice Program allows parents to send their students to schools outside of their local school district. Determining why parents send their students to choice schools is important to school leaders who are trying to attract new students, as well as those who are trying to retain their current students. This study examined the reasons why parents decided to send their students to the Magnet Program for Math and Science (MP4M&S), a school choice program in a suburban school district in northwest New Jersey, during the 2015- 2016 school year. A large volume of research has focused on school choice programs in urban and poor communities. This study addressed the gap in the research by focusing on an affluent suburban school district. This mixed methods study focused on three areas, why parents choose to send their students to the MP4M&S, what criteria they used to make their decision, and where they got their information. Research shows that these three areas of focus can be influenced by parental level of education, socioeconomic status, geographic location, academic rigor, school quality, and school environment. Parents from different groups, based upon their out-of-district status, were interviewed. The information from the interviews was used to focus a survey that was given to the families of all 137 students in the MP4M&S during the 2015-2016 school year. The results of this study show that parents found the academic focus, academic rigor, the school environment, the original research project, the activity offerings, and the economics involved in attending the program to be important attractors. The study also found that the Information Nights, the school website, and interactions with members of the MP4M&S community to be important sources of information. Finally, the study found that there were few differences between in and out-of-district parents when assigning importance to both the attractors and the sources in the study

Employee Use of a Wireless Physical Activity Tracker Within Two Incentive Designs at One Company.

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Norman, Gregory J; Heltemes, Kevin J; Heck, Debi; Osmick, Mary Jane

2016-04-01

Physical activity provides numerous health benefits, including reducing risk factors that contribute to the leading causes of morbidity and mortality. Many employers offer incentives to employees to motivate engagement in wellness program activities. Two incentive designs to reward employees for achieving step goals were evaluated. This study used a retrospective design and the study population consisted of benefit-eligible employees at American Specialty Health ages 18 to 65 years who completed a health assessment and biometric screening during 2011 (N=396) or 2012 (N=500). A total of 320 employees participated in both years. During 2011, the incentive goal was 500,000 steps per quarter. By comparison, a 3-tier step goal plan was implemented in 2012 (ie, 400,000; 650,000; or 900,000 steps/quarter). The prevalence of participants in the step program was 64.7% in 2011 and 72.8% in 2012. The percentage of employees who reached at least 1 quarterly incentive increased from 36.3% in 2011 to 51.4% in 2012. Average steps/day was higher in 2012 (mean [M]=3573, standard deviation [SD]=3010) compared to the same employees in 2011 (M=2817, SD=2654) (Pemployees in physical activity. A multitier incentive design offers participants choices for goal setting and may help shape behavior toward what may be perceived as a difficult goal to achieve. (Population Health Management 2016;19:88-94).

Assessing Vocational Development in Prospective School Librarians. A Review of: Jones, S. (2010. The occupational choice of school librarians. Library Trends, 59(1-2, 166-187.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gayle Bogel

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Objective – To explore the motivations for choosing school librarianship as a career.Design – Narrative research, qualitative interviews.Setting – The School Media program specialization in a Master of Library Science program at a large research university.Subjects – Five graduate school students seeking initial certification as school library media specialists.Methods – The researcher employed narrative research, based on career construction theory and the Life Story Interview, (McAdams, 1995. This methodology is a set of loosely-structured, open-ended questions designed to encourage detailed, in-depth responses from the participant teller, combined with a more structured Career Style Interview (Savickas, 2005 designed to elicit self-defining stories.Data was collected through qualitative interviews, using personal narrative interviews that focused on the entire life of each person from birth to present (Life Story Interviews and additional questions in an interview format (Career Style Interview.Data was collected and analyzed in two stages. The analysis first examined participants as individuals then tried to identify commonalities among the stories. Each life story was examined to determine a career style on the basis of vocational personality, career adaptability and life theme. The interview data was then analyzed for thematic connections and occupational choice. Main Results – The final analysis identified the following themes as relevant to the study, and to the career choices of graduate students planning to be school librarians: parental expectations; career changers; librarian mentors; prior library work experiences; reading; library experiences; altruism-service; desire to work with children; financial stability and security; flexibility of work schedule; emotional distance; and vocational personality.In general, the participants appear to value safe, traditional career choices that allow them to put family first and

Is a bird in the hand worth two in the future? Intertemporal choice, attachment and theory of mind in school-aged children

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Marchetti, Antonella; Castelli, Ilaria; Sanvito, Laura; Massaro, Davide

2014-01-01

Intertemporal choice is a decision-making dilemma related to outcomes of different entity located at different time points. Economic and psychological literature on this topic showed the phenomen of temporal discounting, i.e., the proclivity to devalue the outcome distant in time on the basis of the time delay necessary to obtain it. The goals of this research are to investigate two different components of intertemporal choice separately, namely time and outcome, in school-age children, and the possible link among such components and the security of attachment style and theory of mind. Ninety one children aged between 6 and 10 years performed two intertemporal choice tasks, first and second order false belief tasks and the Separation Anxiety Task in the Family and School versions. Results showed that the two components of intertemporal choice (waiting tolerance and sensitivity to delayed outcome) are stately interrelated; the quality of the attachment to the family caregiver affects the tolerance to waiting time and first order false belief understanding affects both the components of intertemporal choice. PMID:24904496

Is a bird in the hand worth two in the future? Intertemporal choice, attachment and theory of mind in school-aged children.

Science.gov (United States)

Marchetti, Antonella; Castelli, Ilaria; Sanvito, Laura; Massaro, Davide

2014-01-01

Intertemporal choice is a decision-making dilemma related to outcomes of different entity located at different time points. Economic and psychological literature on this topic showed the phenomen of temporal discounting, i.e., the proclivity to devalue the outcome distant in time on the basis of the time delay necessary to obtain it. The goals of this research are to investigate two different components of intertemporal choice separately, namely time and outcome, in school-age children, and the possible link among such components and the security of attachment style and theory of mind. Ninety one children aged between 6 and 10 years performed two intertemporal choice tasks, first and second order false belief tasks and the Separation Anxiety Task in the Family and School versions. Results showed that the two components of intertemporal choice (waiting tolerance and sensitivity to delayed outcome) are stately interrelated; the quality of the attachment to the family caregiver affects the tolerance to waiting time and first order false belief understanding affects both the components of intertemporal choice.

Team incentives in relational contracts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kvaloey, Ola

2003-01-01

Incentive schemes for teams are compared. I ask: under which conditions are relational incentive contracts based on joint performance evaluation, relative performance evaluation and independent performance evaluation self-enforceable. The framework of Che and Yoo (2001) on team incentives is combined with the framework of Baker, Gibbons and Murphy (2002) on relational contracts. In a repeated game between one principal and two agents, I find that incentives based on relative or independent performance are expected to dominate when the productivity of effort is high, while joint performance evaluation dominates when productivity is low. Incentives based on independent performance are more probable if the agents own critical assets. (author)

The values expectations of high school graduates at the choice of the faculty and future occupation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Petrović Nebojša B.

2015-01-01

Full Text Available There are many psychological references to professional orientation of pupils. However, mainly studied predictors were the role of school, peers, parents, socio-economics factors, and less the role of personality traits, goals, expectations, personal and social values. In this paper the focus is on personal goals and social values defined as specific objectives that are significant for a faculty choice, and therefore a future profession. We use two lists of goals - 18 personal and 18 social, applied to the sample of 497 high school pupils in fourth grade. The study was conducted in school settings. Preference and level of importance of the objectives of respondents have been expressed on the 5-point scale of Likert type, which allowed the statistical analysis of applied methods. The research results show significant differences in individual preferences of the goals and values, as well as the significantly connection of the goals with expectations to be fulfilled by faculty and future career choice. In addition, it was shown that the higher importance is given to personal than social values, which justified starting assumption of the authors, to examine personal and social values separately, since they were shown to have a different significance for professional orientation of young people.

Mergers, managerial incentives, and efficiencies

OpenAIRE

Jovanovic, Dragan

2014-01-01

We analyze the effects of synergies from horizontal mergers in a Cournot oligopoly where principals provide their agents with incentives to cut marginal costs prior to choosing output. We stress that synergies come at a cost which possibly leads to a countervailing incentive effect: The merged firm's principal may be induced to stifle managerial incentives in order to reduce her agency costs. Whenever this incentive effect dominates the well-known direct synergy effect, synergies actually red...

Variation in Incentive Effects across Neighbourhoods

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Mark J Hanly

2014-03-01

Full Text Available Small monetary incentives increase survey cooperation rates, however evidence suggests that the appeal of incentives may vary across sample subgroups. Fieldwork budgets can be most effectively distributed by targeting those subgroups where incentives will have the strongest appeal. We examine data from a randomised experiment implemented in the pilot phase of the Irish Longitudinal Study of Ageing, which randomly assigned households to receive a higher (€25 or lower (€10 incentive amount. Using a random effects logistic regression model, we observe a variable effect of the higher incentive across geographic neighbourhoods. The higher incentive has the largest impact in neighbourhoods where baseline cooperation is low, as predicted by Leverage-Saliency theory. Auxiliary neighbourhood-level variables are linked to the sample frame to explore this variation further, however none of these moderate the incentive effect, suggesting that richer information is needed to identify sample subgroups where incentive budgets should be directed.

Energizing the Enterprise: An Incentive-Based Approach to Homeland Security

Science.gov (United States)

2010-12-01

8217" (master’s thesis, Naval Postgraduate School, 2007), 79–82. 8 desensitization and complacency often hamper long-term results, necessitating additional...for contributing to homeland security, it may exact a cost from the offering entity. Additionally, some incentives may require advertising to make...people aware of their existence. Many of these advertisements , however, might be able to be combined with existing awareness campaign messages. 2

Insufficient incentives for investment in electricity generations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Neuhoff, K. [Cambridge University (United Kingdom). Dept. of Applied Economics; De Vries, L. [Delft University of Technology (Netherlands). Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management

2004-12-01

In theory, competitive electricity markets provide incentives for efficient investment in generation capacity. We show that if consumers and investors are risk averse, investment is efficient only if investors in generation capacity can sign long-term contracts with consumers. Otherwise the uncovered price risk increases financing costs, reduces equilibrium investment levels, distorts technology choice towards less capital-intensive generation and reduces consumer utility. We observe insufficient levels of long-term contracts in existing markets, possibly because retail companies are not credible counter-parties if their final customers can switch easily between them. With a consumer franchise, retailers can sign long-term contracts, but this solution comes at the expense of retail competition. Alternative capacity mechanisms to stimulate investment are discussed. (author)

Incentives Between Firms (and Within)

OpenAIRE

Robert Gibbons

2005-01-01

This paper reviews the significant progress in Üagency theoryÝ (i.e., the economic theory of incentives) during the 1990s, with an eye toward applications to supply transactions. I emphasize six recent models, in three pairs: (1) new foundations for the theory of incentive contracts, (2) new directions in incentive theory, and (3) new applications to supply transactions. By reviewing these six models, I hope to establish three things. First, the theory of incentive contracts needed and receiv...

Cross-cultural validity of the theory of planned behavior for predicting healthy food choice in secondary school students of Inner Mongolia.

Science.gov (United States)

Shimazaki, Takashi; Bao, Hugejiletu; Deli, Geer; Uechi, Hiroaki; Lee, Ying-Hua; Miura, Kayo; Takenaka, Koji

2017-11-01

Unhealthy eating behavior is a serious health concern among secondary school students in Inner Mongolia. To predict their healthy food choices and devise methods of correcting unhealthy choices, we sought to confirm the cross-cultural validity of the theory of planned behavior among Inner Mongolian students. A cross-sectional study, conducted between November and December 2014. Overall, 3047 students were enrolled. We devised a questionnaire based on the theory of planned behavior to measure its components (intentions, attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control) in relation to healthy food choices; we also assessed their current engagement in healthy food choices. A principal component analysis revealed high contribution rates for the components (69.32%-88.77%). A confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the components of the questionnaire had adequate model fit (goodness of fit index=0.997, adjusted goodness of fit index=0.984, comparative fit index=0.998, and root mean square error of approximation=0.049). Notably, data from participants within the suburbs did not support the theory of planned behavior construction. Several paths did not predict the hypothesis variables. However, attitudes toward healthy food choices strongly predicted behavioral intention (path coefficients 0.49-0.77, ptheory of planned behavior can apply to secondary school students in urban areas. Furthermore, attitudes towards healthy food choices were the best predictor of behavioral intentions to engage in such choices in Inner Mongolian students. Copyright © 2017 Diabetes India. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Choices of texts for literary education

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Skyggebjerg, Anna Karlskov

This paper charts the general implications of the choice of texts for literature teaching in the Danish school system, especially in Grades 8 and 9. It will analyze and discuss the premises of the choice of texts, and the possibilities of a certain choice of text in a concrete classroom situation...

Escolha, estratégia e competição por escolas públicas Choice, strategy and competition for public schools

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marcio da Costa

2012-08-01

Full Text Available Usualmente, políticas que buscam estimular a liberdade de escolha de escolas por parte dos pais visam declaradamente promover melhoria educacional por meio de mecanismos competitivos e/ou de accountability. Há discussão acumulada na sociologia sobre os quase-mercados formados em políticas de escolha escolar. O artigo investiga os processos de escolha e de acesso escolar em um contexto que denominamos "quase-mercado oculto". No caso brasileiro, a ausência de regulação permite que severos mecanismos de segmentação se manifestem em meio à complexa hierarquia escolar existente nas redes compostas por escolas públicas "comuns". O artigo apresenta a elaboração conceitual presente na literatura internacional e nossas reflexões para o caso brasileiro, além de resultados de uma pesquisa, especialmente de sua fase qualitativa, referente às entrevistas realizadas com professores(as, diretores(as e com pais de alunos do Ensino Fundamental da rede municipal na cidade do Rio de Janeiro.Frequently, policies that seek to encourage parents´ school choice aim to promote educational improvement by means of competitive and/or accountability mechanisms. There is a growing discussion within sociology around the quasi-markets formed with school choice policies. The paper investigates the processes of school choice and access in a context called "hidden quasi-market". In the Brazilian context, the absence of regulation allows the emergence of severe mechanisms of segmentation that take place within a complex school hierarchy existing among "ordinary" school systems. The article presents a conceptual elaboration present in the international literature and our considerations regarding the Brazilian context. It also brings some results, especially those concerning the qualitative phase of the research, including interviews with teachers, principals and students’ parents from municipal elementary schools in the city of Rio de Janeiro.

Efficiency and Equity within European Education Systems and School Choice Policy: Bridging Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches

Science.gov (United States)

Poder, Kaire; Kerem, Kaie; Lauri, Triin

2013-01-01

We seek out the good institutional features of the European choice policies that can enhance both equity and efficiency at the system level. For causality analysis we construct the typology of 28 European educational systems by using fuzzy-set analysis. We combine five independent variables to indicate institutional features of school choice…

Marine Corps Pay Incentives

Science.gov (United States)

Marines from 2000 to 2017. The thesis includes a literature review on economic theory related to pay incentives in the Department of Defense, a...The purpose of this thesis to provide the Marine Corps with a comprehensive report on pay incentive programs and special pay that were available to...summarization of pay incentive categories, a data analysis on take-up rates and average annual amounts at the end of each fiscal year, and a program review

Breaking Down Blaine Amendments' Indefensible Barrier to Education Choice

Science.gov (United States)

Burke, Lindsey M.; Stepman, Jarrett

2014-01-01

Though school choice has proven to be popular, barriers remain in some states as a result of so-called Blaine Amendments and similar policies to prevent education funding from following students to religious schools as a part of school choice options. If left to stand, these ignoble 19th century amendments will remain major impediments to the…

Subsidy policy and the enlargement of choice

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Srinivasan, Sunderasan

2009-01-01

Development is the enlargement of people's choices. Optimal subsidy policy is intended to create the right incentives for each of the value chain participants. This paper contends that the interest subsidy offered by the Indian federal Ministry of New and Renewable Energy for solar thermal systems, through mainstream banking channels is superior in intent and outcome compared to the capital subsidy as currently offered for solar PV systems, routed through government controlled delivery channels. The interest subsidy enhances innovation, improves service delivery and expands the range of product available to consumers enjoying a wide range of endowments, thus leading to more inclusive development. The simple monopoly model developed by Atkinson [Atkinson AB. Capabilities, exclusion and the supply of goods. In: Basu K, Pattanaik P, Suzumura K, editor, Choice, Welfare and Development. Oxford University Press; 1995] is applied to the context of solar home systems to demonstrate price reduction and choice expansion in a liberalized market, facilitated by an interest subsidy scheme. (author)

The role of regulation, fiscal incentives and changes in tastes in the diffusion of unleaded petrol

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stoneman, P.; Battisti, G.

2000-01-01

This paper analyses the diffusion of unleaded petrol in the UK. Changes in the market share of unleaded fuel are the results of changes in the composition of the car stock and changes in the choice of fuel given the car stock. We find the fuel type choices have been mainly driven by changes in tastes and learning as opposed to changes in relative prices induced by fiscal incentives. However car stock composition effects dominate the diffusion process and we find that through this route regulatory changes have made major contributions to changes in the market share of unleaded fuel. (Author)

Educational Choice. A Background Paper.

Science.gov (United States)

Quality Education for Minorities Network, Washington, DC.

This paper addresses school choice, one proposal to address parental involvement concerns, focusing on historical background, definitions, rationale for advocating choice, implementation strategies, and implications for minorities and low-income families. In the past, transfer payment programs such as tuition tax credits and vouchers were…

School Desegregation and Federal Inducement: Lessons from the Emergency School Aid Act of 1972

Science.gov (United States)

Hodge, Emily M.

2018-01-01

This study uses the example of the Emergency School Aid Act of 1972, a federal desegregation incentive program, to discuss the benefits and challenges of equity-oriented incentives. This study applies theories of policy instruments and the social construction of target populations to congressional records, archival program materials, and other…

Meeting the Challenges of Stakeholder Engagement and Communication: Lessons from Teacher Incentive Fund Grantees. The Harvesting Project

Science.gov (United States)

Koppich, Julia E.

2010-01-01

As of August 2010, a total of 33 states, school districts, charter school coalitions, and other education organizations had received Teacher Incentive Funds (TIF) to redesign compensation programs for teachers and principals. The U.S. Department of Education named a new cohort of TIF grantees on September 23, 2010. TIF grantees have faced a number…

Meeting the Challenges of Fiscal and Programmatic Sustainability: Lessons from Teacher Incentive Fund Grantees. The Harvesting Project

Science.gov (United States)

Schuermann, Patrick; Archibald, Sarah; Kluender, Ray; Ptak, Kirsten

2011-01-01

A total of 33 sites, including states, school districts, charter school coalitions, and other education organizations make up Cohorts 1 and 2 of the Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF). These sites received funds beginning in the fall of 2006 and spring of 2007 to redesign compensation programs for teachers and principals. The U.S. Department of…

Employee Use of a Wireless Physical Activity Tracker Within Two Incentive Designs at One Company

Science.gov (United States)

Heltemes, Kevin J.; Heck, Debi; Osmick, Mary Jane

2016-01-01

Abstract Physical activity provides numerous health benefits, including reducing risk factors that contribute to the leading causes of morbidity and mortality. Many employers offer incentives to employees to motivate engagement in wellness program activities. Two incentive designs to reward employees for achieving step goals were evaluated. This study used a retrospective design and the study population consisted of benefit-eligible employees at American Specialty Health ages 18 to 65 years who completed a health assessment and biometric screening during 2011 (N=396) or 2012 (N=500). A total of 320 employees participated in both years. During 2011, the incentive goal was 500,000 steps per quarter. By comparison, a 3-tier step goal plan was implemented in 2012 (ie, 400,000; 650,000; or 900,000 steps/quarter). The prevalence of participants in the step program was 64.7% in 2011 and 72.8% in 2012. The percentage of employees who reached at least 1 quarterly incentive increased from 36.3% in 2011 to 51.4% in 2012. Average steps/day was higher in 2012 (mean [M]=3573, standard deviation [SD]=3010) compared to the same employees in 2011 (M=2817, SD=2654) (Pemployees in physical activity. A multitier incentive design offers participants choices for goal setting and may help shape behavior toward what may be perceived as a difficult goal to achieve. (Population Health Management 2016;19:88–94) PMID:26087300

Acceptability of Parental Financial Incentives and Quasi-Mandatory Interventions for Preschool Vaccinations: Triangulation of Findings from Three Linked Studies.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jean Adams

Full Text Available Childhood vaccinations are a core component of public health programmes globally. Recent measles outbreaks in the UK and USA have prompted debates about new ways to increase uptake of childhood vaccinations. Parental financial incentives and quasi-mandatory interventions (e.g. restricting entry to educational settings to fully vaccinated children have been successfully used to increase uptake of childhood vaccinations in developing countries, but there is limited evidence of effectiveness in developed countries. Even if confirmed to be effective, widespread implementation of these interventions is dependent on acceptability to parents, professionals and other stakeholders.We conducted a systematic review (n = 11 studies included, a qualitative study with parents (n = 91 and relevant professionals (n = 24, and an on-line survey with embedded discrete choice experiment with parents (n = 521 exploring acceptability of parental financial incentives and quasi-mandatory interventions for preschool vaccinations. Here we use Triangulation Protocol to synthesise findings from the three studies.There was a consistent recognition that incentives and quasi-mandatory interventions could be effective, particularly in more disadvantaged groups. Universal incentives were consistently preferred to targeted ones, but relative preferences for quasi-mandatory interventions and universal incentives varied between studies. The qualitative work revealed a consistent belief that financial incentives were not considered an appropriate motivation for vaccinating children. The costs of financial incentive interventions appeared particularly salient and there were consistent concerns in the qualitative work that incentives did not represent the best use of resources for promoting preschool vaccinations. Various suggestions for improving delivery of the current UK vaccination programme as an alternative to incentives and quasi-mandates were made.Parental financial

Modeling regulated water utility investment incentives

Science.gov (United States)

Padula, S.; Harou, J. J.

2014-12-01

This work attempts to model the infrastructure investment choices of privatized water utilities subject to rate of return and price cap regulation. The goal is to understand how regulation influences water companies' investment decisions such as their desire to engage in transfers with neighbouring companies. We formulate a profit maximization capacity expansion model that finds the schedule of new supply, demand management and transfer schemes that maintain the annual supply-demand balance and maximize a companies' profit under the 2010-15 price control process in England. Regulatory incentives for costs savings are also represented in the model. These include: the CIS scheme for the capital expenditure (capex) and incentive allowance schemes for the operating expenditure (opex) . The profit-maximizing investment program (what to build, when and what size) is compared with the least cost program (social optimum). We apply this formulation to several water companies in South East England to model performance and sensitivity to water network particulars. Results show that if companies' are able to outperform the regulatory assumption on the cost of capital, a capital bias can be generated, due to the fact that the capital expenditure, contrarily to opex, can be remunerated through the companies' regulatory capital value (RCV). The occurrence of the 'capital bias' or its entity depends on the extent to which a company can finance its investments at a rate below the allowed cost of capital. The bias can be reduced by the regulatory penalties for underperformances on the capital expenditure (CIS scheme); Sensitivity analysis can be applied by varying the CIS penalty to see how and to which extent this impacts the capital bias effect. We show how regulatory changes could potentially be devised to partially remove the 'capital bias' effect. Solutions potentially include allowing for incentives on total expenditure rather than separately for capex and opex and allowing

The Role of Personality in Relation to Gender Differences in School Subject Choices in Pre-University Education

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Korpershoek, H.; Kuyper, H.; Van der Werf, M.P.C.

2012-01-01

Boys and girls to some extent differ in personality characteristics while they also prefer different school subjects in secondary education. This study has attempted to unravel the relations among gender, personality, and students' subject choices. The study was based on a sample of 1,740 9th grade

Differential dependence of Pavlovian incentive motivation and instrumental incentive learning processes on dopamine signaling

Science.gov (United States)

Wassum, Kate M.; Ostlund, Sean B.; Balleine, Bernard W.; Maidment, Nigel T.

2011-01-01

Here we attempted to clarify the role of dopamine signaling in reward seeking. In Experiment 1, we assessed the effects of the dopamine D1/D2 receptor antagonist flupenthixol (0.5 mg/kg i.p.) on Pavlovian incentive motivation and found that flupenthixol blocked the ability of a conditioned stimulus to enhance both goal approach and instrumental performance (Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer). In Experiment 2 we assessed the effects of flupenthixol on reward palatability during post-training noncontingent re-exposure to the sucrose reward in either a control 3-h or novel 23-h food-deprived state. Flupenthixol, although effective in blocking the Pavlovian goal approach, was without effect on palatability or the increase in reward palatability induced by the upshift in motivational state. This noncontingent re-exposure provided an opportunity for instrumental incentive learning, the process by which rats encode the value of a reward for use in updating reward-seeking actions. Flupenthixol administered prior to the instrumental incentive learning opportunity did not affect the increase in subsequent off-drug reward-seeking actions induced by that experience. These data suggest that although dopamine signaling is necessary for Pavlovian incentive motivation, it is not necessary for changes in reward experience, or for the instrumental incentive learning process that translates this experience into the incentive value used to drive reward-seeking actions, and provide further evidence that Pavlovian and instrumental incentive learning processes are dissociable. PMID:21693635

Middle School Cafeteria Food Choice and Waste Prior to Implementation of Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act Changes in the National School Lunch Program

Science.gov (United States)

Connors, Priscilla; Bednar, Carolyn

2015-01-01

Purpose/Objectives: The study objective was to document choices of entrées, vegetables, fruits, grains/breads, and beverages on lunch trays and to determine the amount of each that was discarded after mealtime. Methods: A convenience sample of two urban middle school cafeterias in Texas participated in the study which took place in the 2010-2011…

Revisiting the case for intensity targets: Better incentives and less uncertainty for developing countries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Marschinski, Robert; Edenhofer, Ottmar

2010-01-01

In the debate on post-Kyoto global climate policy, intensity targets, which set a maximum amount of emissions per GDP, figure as prominent alternative to Kyoto-style absolute emission targets, especially for developing countries. This paper re-examines the case for intensity targets by critically assessing several of its properties, namely (i) reduction of cost-uncertainty, (ii) reduction of 'hot air', (iii) compatibility with international emissions trading, (iv) incentive to decouple carbon emissions and economic output (decarbonization), and, (v) use as a substitute for banking/borrowing. Relying on simple analytical models, it is shown that the effect on cost-uncertainty is ambiguous and depends on parameter values, and that the same holds for the risk of 'hot air'; that the intensity target distorts international emissions trading; that despite potential asymmetries in the choice of abatement technology between absolute and intensity target, the incentive for a lasting transformation of the energy system is not necessarily stronger under the latter; and, finally, that only a well-working intensity target could substitute banking/borrowing to some extent-but also vice versa. Overall, the results suggest that due to the increased complexity and the potentially only modest benefits of an intensity target, absolute targets remain a robust choice for a cautious policy maker.

Everyday and medical life choices: decision-making among 8- to 15-year-old school students.

Science.gov (United States)

Alderson, P

1992-01-01

How much do young patients expect to be involved in medical decisions affecting them? We are investigating this question during interviews with 8- to 15-year-olds having orthopaedic surgery. Many youngsters taking part in our research project on consent to surgery are more than usually dependent on their parents. We wondered how their views would compare with those of their peers at school. This paper reports a schools survey carried out as a background to the research with young people in hospital. Students in seven schools answered questionnaires on choices about late-night television viewing, new friends, timing homework, seeing their family doctor and consenting to surgery. They were asked about agreement with their parents, how they negotiate disagreement, and when they think they were/will be old enough to make everyday and medical decisions without their parents' help.

School children's own views, roles and contribution to choices regarding diet and activity in Spain.

Science.gov (United States)

Lopez-Dicastillo, O; Grande, G; Callery, P

2013-01-01

  Behaviours regarding food and activity are learned during childhood and continue throughout life. Children can be very important agents in making decisions concerning their own well-being and care and their perspective is essential to understanding how they and/or others make choices for them to achieve a healthy lifestyle. However, their perspectives remain under-researched. This study provides an insight into school children's own perspectives, behaviours and contribution to food and activity choices.   The paper reports on the findings from an ethnographic study with 38 Spanish children aged 5-7 years. Information was obtained through participant observations, diaries kept by children and group interviews. Data were analysed using techniques of analytical induction and constant comparison.   The children who took part in this study described choices about activities with enthusiasm. Children saw activity as a way of learning new things, mastering skills and socializing. They were willing to try and experience new activities and games. However, the activities performed depended on parents' agendas and security issues. In contrast, children reported less interest in and active involvement in food choices. They contributed to family food choices indirectly through the expression of their preferences, not wanting to eat what they disliked or tasting new foods.   Children had strong preferences and motivations, particularly about activities which could be harnessed in interventions to prevent obesity and promote healthy diet and activity. Parental involvement and commitment is also important both to encourage exercise according to children's interests and active informed food choices, including introduction to unfamiliar foods. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Policy incentives for switchgrass production using valuation of non-market ecosystem services

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chamberlain, Jim F.; Miller, Shelie A.

2012-01-01

This study presents a linear profit model with combined economic and environmental factors for a switchgrass-for-biofuels agricultural system in the southeastern U.S. The objectives are to establish conversion-to-switchgrass thresholds for various market prices and identify policy incentives that would ensure economic profit while also maximizing environmental benefits (carbon sequestration, displacement of fossil fuels) and minimizing negative impacts (global warming potential, nitrate loss). Weighting factors are chosen to represent incentives and penalties by assigning value to the impacts. With no other incentives, switchgrass market prices of at least $51 and $58/dton would be needed in order to make a profitable switch from corn/Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) lands and cotton, respectively. At a mid-range offering of $50/dton, feasible carbon credit prices of $3/ $8/ $23 per metric tonne CO 2 e would incentivize conversion from corn, CRP, or cotton, respectively. Similarly, a water quality penalty of $0.20/ $3/ $2 per kilogram NO 3 –N leached would incentivize the same conversions with resultant watershed improvement. At a lower price of $30/dton switchgrass, incentives based on valuation of ecosystem services begin to exceed feasible ranges of these valuations. - Highlights: ► A linear effective profit model predicts conversion thresholds to switchgrass. ► Carbon and nitrogen fluxes can be valued and incorporated into producer choices. ► Farmgate prices alone of $51 and $58/dton switchgrass will entice conversion. ► Reasonable ecosystem service valuations will encourage adoption of switchgrass.

A dynamic model for firm-response to non-credible incentive regulation regimes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Agrell, Per J.; Grifell-Tatjé, Emili

2016-01-01

Economic network regulation increasingly use quantitative performance models (from econometrics and engineering) to set revenues. In theory, high-powered incentive regulation, such as revenue-caps, induces firms to cost-efficient behavior independent of underlying model. However, anecdotal evidence shows regulated firms occasionally maintaining cost-inefficiency under incentive regulation even under slumping profitability. We present a model for firm-level efficiency under a regime with a probability of failure explaining this phenomenon. The model is based on the hypothesis that the regulatory choice of method can be associated with intrinsic flaws leading to judicial repeal and replacement of it by a low-powered regime. The results show that the cost efficiency policy is proportional to the type of firm (cost of effort), value of time (discount factor) and the credibility of the method (risk of failure). A panel data set for 2000–2006 for 128 electricity distributors in Sweden is used to validate the model predictions (radical productivity slowdown, failing profitability and efficiency) at the launch and demise of a non-credible regulation method. The work highlights the fallacy of viewing incentive regulation as a method-independent instrument, a result applicable in any infrastructure regulation. - Highlights: • Incentive regulation relies on fixed revenue for operators. • In existing theory the efficiency-inducing effect is model-independent. • A dynamic game exposes the firm to a regulation that may fail. • One optimal policy is to pad cost and wait for the failure. • The Swedish DSOs show this policy 2003–2006, when the regime failed.

Between 'Enrichment' and 'Endangerment': 'Cultural Diversity' and the Politics of Belonging in the Berlin School Choice Discourse

Science.gov (United States)

Roch, Anna; Dean, Isabel; Breidenstein, Georg

2018-01-01

Even though choice is not officially a feature in the German primary school system, some parents intervene in determining which school their child attends. Especially in urban contexts, the informal school market is growing. This demand is based on promises with respect to a certain quality of education as well as on issues that prevail in certain…

Alternative-Specific and Case-Specific Factors Involved in the Decisions of Islamic School Teachers Affecting Teacher Retention: A Discrete Choice Experiment

Science.gov (United States)

Abd-El-Hafez, Alaa Karem

2015-01-01

Teacher retention is a concern in all educational sectors in America. It is of special importance to Islamic schools, which tend to lack the resources necessary in recruiting and training new teachers. This dissertation addressed this problem in full-time Islamic schools in New York State by conducting a discrete choice experiment, which reflects…

`Membership Has Its Privileges': Status Incentives and Categorical Inequality in Education.

Science.gov (United States)

Domina, Thurston; Penner, Andrew M; Penner, Emily K

2016-05-01

Prizes - formal systems that publicly allocate rewards for exemplary behavior - play an increasingly important role in a wide array of social settings, including education. In this paper, we evaluate a prize system designed to boost achievement at two high schools by assigning students color-coded ID cards based on a previously low stakes test. Average student achievement on this test increased in the ID card schools beyond what one would expect from contemporaneous changes in neighboring schools. However, regression discontinuity analyses indicate that the program created new inequalities between students who received low-status and high-status ID cards. These findings indicate that status-based incentives create categorical inequalities between prize winners and others even as they reorient behavior toward the goals they reward.

WWC Quick Review of the Report "Teacher Pay for Performance: Experimental Evidence from the Project on Incentives in Teaching"

Science.gov (United States)

What Works Clearinghouse, 2011

2011-01-01

The study examined whether offering financial incentives to teachers of fifth- through eighth-grade math students improved their students' achievement on the math section of the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program. The study took place in the Metropolitan Nashville Public School District during the 2006-07 through 2008-09 school years. It…

Food choice, plate waste and nutrient intake of elementary- and middle-school students participating in the US National School Lunch Program.

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Stephanie L; Cunningham-Sabo, Leslie

2014-06-01

To (i) evaluate food choices and consumption patterns of elementary- and middle-school students who participate in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and (ii) compare students' average nutrient intake from lunch with NSLP standards. Plate waste from elementary- and middle-school students' lunch trays was measured in autumn 2010 using a previously validated digital photography method. Percentage waste was estimated to the nearest 10 % for the entrée, canned fruit, fresh fruit, vegetable, grain and milk. Univariate ANOVA determined differences in percentage waste between schools, grades and genders. Daily nutrient intake was calculated using the district's menu analysis and percentage waste. Elementary and middle schools in northern Colorado (USA). Students, grades 1-8. Plate waste was estimated from 899 lunch trays; 535 elementary- and 364 middle-school students. Only 45 % of elementary- and 34 % middle-school students selected a vegetable. Elementary-school students wasted more than a third of grain, fruit and vegetable menu items. Middle-school students left nearly 50 % of fresh fruit, 37 % of canned fruit and nearly a third of vegetables unconsumed. Less than half of the students met the national meal standards for vitamins A and C, or Fe. Few students' lunch consumption met previous or new, strengthened NSLP lunch standards. Due to the relatively low intake of vegetables, intakes of vitamins A and C were of particular concern. Effective behavioural interventions, combined with marketing, communications and behavioural economics, will likely be necessary to encourage increased vegetable intake to meet the new meal standards.

"Nowhere That Fits": The Dilemmas of School Choice for Parents of Children with Statements of Special Educational Needs (SEN) in England

Science.gov (United States)

Bajwa-Patel, Meanu; Devecchi, Cristina

2014-01-01

Giving parents a choice with regard to their children's education has been central to the political discourse of school reform at least since the 1988 Education Reform Act (ERA). With regard to children with a Statement of special educational needs (SSEN), a plethora of policies and laws have given parents the right not only to choose a school,…

Earnings progression, human capital and incentives

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Frederiksen, Anders

progression by investigating the effects of on-the-job human capital acquisition, explicit short-run incentives and career concern incentives on earnings progression. The model leads to predictions about the incentive structure and the progression in both cross-sectional and individual earnings which...

Culture and the school: The degree of educational integration of Roma and Gypsies in the Peloponnese region of Greece

Science.gov (United States)

Kiprianos, Pandelis; Daskalaki, Ivi; Stamelos, Georgios B.

2012-10-01

This article examines the degree of integration of Roma and Gypsy children in formal education in the Peloponnese region of Greece. It is based on field research conducted by the University of Patras during the school year 2006/07 within the framework of the Greek Ministry of Education's "Integration of Roma children in school" programme, funded by the European Union. Despite governmental incentives for poor families to enrol their school-aged children, school attendance of Roma and Gypsy children was found to decline from primary year one to primary year six, with hardly any of them entering secondary school at all. Besides looking at school attendance figures and Roma and Gypsy children's proficiency in reading, writing and numeracy, this paper also considers gender, family composition, living conditions and economic situation, as well as culturally constructed perceptions of childhood and a person's life cycle. The aim of this article is to highlight the contradictions and ambiguities involved in the process of incorporating Roma and Gypsy children in formal education, and to evaluate their school performance and assess their academic choices.

Nudging consumers towards healthier choices: a systematic review of positional influences on food choice.

Science.gov (United States)

Bucher, Tamara; Collins, Clare; Rollo, Megan E; McCaffrey, Tracy A; De Vlieger, Nienke; Van der Bend, Daphne; Truby, Helen; Perez-Cueto, Federico J A

2016-06-01

Nudging or 'choice architecture' refers to strategic changes in the environment that are anticipated to alter people's behaviour in a predictable way, without forbidding any options or significantly changing their economic incentives. Nudging strategies may be used to promote healthy eating behaviour. However, to date, the scientific evidence has not been systematically reviewed to enable practitioners and policymakers to implement, or argue for the implementation of, specific measures to support nudging strategies. This systematic review investigated the effect of positional changes of food placement on food choice. In total, seven scientific databases were searched using relevant keywords to identify interventions that manipulated food position (proximity or order) to generate a change in food selection, sales or consumption, among normal-weight or overweight individuals across any age group. From 2576 identified articles, fifteen articles comprising eighteen studies met our inclusion criteria. This review has identified that manipulation of food product order or proximity can influence food choice. Such approaches offer promise in terms of impacting on consumer behaviour. However, there is a need for high-quality studies that quantify the magnitude of positional effects on food choice in conjunction with measuring the impact on food intake, particularly in the longer term. Future studies should use outcome measures such as change in grams of food consumed or energy intake to quantify the impact on dietary intake and potential impacts on nutrition-related health. Research is also needed to evaluate potential compensatory behaviours secondary to such interventions.

Sustainable Decision-Making: Non-Monetary Incentives for Pro-Social Behavior in the Energy Sector

OpenAIRE

S. Rosenkranz; K.S. Muehlfeld; G. van der Laan; G.U. Weitzel; J. van der Donk; H. Ivanova; E.J. van Kesteren; M. Ottink; H. van der Spek

2013-01-01

Taking into account insights into the reality of human decision-making, is an important challenge for today’s policymakers. Are there `cheaper´, more efficient and possibly as well more effective, non-financial ways of influencing the behaviour of private and corporate citizens, nudging them towards socially desired choices, for example, in the domain of energy consumption? Can such mechanisms complement or substitute for monetary incentives in fostering sustainable decision-making in poli...

Tax incentives in emerging economies

OpenAIRE

Brodzka, Alicja

2013-01-01

Emerging economies have introduced tax incentives for various reasons. In some countries in transition, such instruments may be seen as a counterweight to the investment disincentives inherent in the general tax system. In other countries, the incentives are intended to offset other disadvantages that investors may face, such as a lack of infrastructure, complicated and antiquated laws, bureaucratic complexities and weak administration. The article brings closer the issue of tax incentives of...

The Visible Hand: Markets, Politics, and Regulation in Post-Katrina New Orleans

Science.gov (United States)

Jabbar, Huriya

2016-01-01

In this article Huriya Jabbar examines how the regulatory environment in post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans has influenced choice, incentives, and competition among schools. While previous research has highlighted the mechanisms of competition and individual choice--the "invisible hand"--and the creation of markets in education, Jabbar…

Determinants of Generic vs. Brand Drug Choice: Evidence from Population-wide Danish Data

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Skipper, Niels; Vejlin, Rune Majlund

driven. We use population-wide Danish register data including all prescriptions for seven blockbuster drugs from 1998-2008. At the outset, descriptive statistics suggest large variation in drug choice over doctors. Nonetheless, using a two-way fixed effects model we find that the primary determinants...... of brand drug use are unobserved patient characteristics and price effects, while observed and unobserved doctor characteristics in general explain only 0.7 % of the variation in drug choice. This is suggestive evidence that the doctors in the Danish setting with no incentives to push expensive brand drugs...

Special Ed. and Choice Ties Grow

Science.gov (United States)

Shah, Nirvi

2012-01-01

Creating private school vouchers for special education students--programs that are largely unchallenged in court, unlike other publicly financed tuition vouchers--can be the perfect way to clear a path for other students to get school options, according to school choice proponents. At least seven states--Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Ohio,…

INEQUALITY, INCENTIVES AND THE INTERPERSONAL TEST

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lippert-Rasmussen, Kasper

2008-01-01

ABSTRACT This article defends three claims: (1) even if Rawls' difference principle permits incentives to induce talented people to be more productive, it does not follow that it permits inequalities; (2) the difference principle, when adequately specified, may in some circumstances permit incent...... incentives and allow that the worst off are not made as well off as they could be; and (3) an argument for incentives might pass Cohen's interpersonal test even if it is unsound and might not pass it even if it is sound. 1...

Cultural Capital and Gender Differences in Parental Involvement in Children's Schooling and Higher Education Choice in China

Science.gov (United States)

Sheng, Xiaoming

2012-01-01

This article employs the concept of cultural capital to examine the ways in which social difference in terms of gender are played out in parental involvement in children's schooling and higher education choice. The intention has been to provide an in-depth analysis of the ways in which Chinese mothers and fathers are involved in the process.…

University Internal Governance under the Perspective of Incentive Compatibility%激励相容视角下的大学内部治理

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

张海滨

2012-01-01

优化大学内部治理实质是促进高校内部各种主体利益的激励相容，实现大学办学效益的最大化。大学内部治理存在激励不相容问题主要有：权力结构的激励不相容、层级管理的激励不相容、办学功能的激励不相容。为此，要加强顶层设计，完善决策执行机制，创新学术组织设置，椎进人事管理制度，加强大学章程建设，促进大学内部治理的激励相容。%University internal governance is actually the promotion of the incentive compatibility between the stakeholders, to achieve maximum efficiency of running schools. The problems of incentive incompatibility in university internal governance mainly include the incentive incompatibility of power structure, incentive incompatibility of level management, and incentive in- compatibility of school-running function. Therefore, we should strengthen top-level design, perfect decision-making mechanism, innovate academic organization setting, promote personnel management system, strengthen university constitutions and promote the incentive compatibility of university internal governance.

Effects of the Informed Health Choices primary school intervention on the ability of children in Uganda to assess the reliability of claims about treatment effects: a cluster-randomised controlled trial.

Science.gov (United States)

Nsangi, Allen; Semakula, Daniel; Oxman, Andrew D; Austvoll-Dahlgren, Astrid; Oxman, Matt; Rosenbaum, Sarah; Morelli, Angela; Glenton, Claire; Lewin, Simon; Kaseje, Margaret; Chalmers, Iain; Fretheim, Atle; Ding, Yunpeng; Sewankambo, Nelson K

2017-07-22

Claims about what improves or harms our health are ubiquitous. People need to be able to assess the reliability of these claims. We aimed to evaluate an intervention designed to teach primary school children to assess claims about the effects of treatments (ie, any action intended to maintain or improve health). In this cluster-randomised controlled trial, we included primary schools in the central region of Uganda that taught year-5 children (aged 10-12 years). We excluded international schools, special needs schools for children with auditory and visual impairments, schools that had participated in user-testing and piloting of the resources, infant and nursery schools, adult education schools, and schools that were difficult for us to access in terms of travel time. We randomly allocated a representative sample of eligible schools to either an intervention or control group. Intervention schools received the Informed Health Choices primary school resources (textbooks, exercise books, and a teachers' guide). Teachers attended a 2 day introductory workshop and gave nine 80 min lessons during one school term. The lessons addressed 12 concepts essential to assessing claims about treatment effects and making informed health choices. We did not intervene in the control schools. The primary outcome, measured at the end of the school term, was the mean score on a test with two multiple-choice questions for each of the 12 concepts and the proportion of children with passing scores on the same test. This trial is registered with the Pan African Clinical Trial Registry, number PACTR201606001679337. Between April 11, 2016, and June 8, 2016, 2960 schools were assessed for eligibility; 2029 were eligible, and a random sample of 170 were invited to recruitment meetings. After recruitment meetings, 120 eligible schools consented and were randomly assigned to either the intervention group (n=60, 76 teachers and 6383 children) or control group (n=60, 67 teachers and 4430 children

The "None of the Above" Option in Multiple-Choice Testing: An Experimental Study

Science.gov (United States)

DiBattista, David; Sinnige-Egger, Jo-Anne; Fortuna, Glenda

2014-01-01

The authors assessed the effects of using "none of the above" as an option in a 40-item, general-knowledge multiple-choice test administered to undergraduate students. Examinees who selected "none of the above" were given an incentive to write the correct answer to the question posed. Using "none of the above" as the…

The Promise of Tailoring Incentives for Healthy Behaviors.

Science.gov (United States)

Kullgren, Jeffrey T; Williams, Geoffrey C; Resnicow, Kenneth; An, Lawrence C; Rothberg, Amy; Volpp, Kevin G; Heisler, Michele

2016-01-01

To describe how tailoring financial incentives for healthy behaviors to employees' goals, values, and aspirations might improve the efficacy of incentives. We integrate insights from self-determination theory (SDT) with principles from behavioral economics in the design of financial incentives by linking how incentives could help meet an employee's life goals, values, or aspirations. Tailored financial incentives could be more effective than standard incentives in promoting autonomous motivation necessary to initiate healthy behaviors and sustain them after incentives are removed. Previous efforts to improve the design of financial incentives have tested different incentive designs that vary the size, schedule, timing, and target of incentives. Our strategy for tailoring incentives builds on strong evidence that difficult behavior changes are more successful when integrated with important life goals and values. We outline necessary research to examine the effectiveness of this approach among at-risk employees. Instead of offering simple financial rewards for engaging in healthy behaviors, existing programs could leverage incentives to promote employees' autonomous motivation for sustained health improvements. Effective application of these concepts could lead to programs more effective at improving health, potentially at lower cost. Our approach for the first time integrates key insights from SDT, behavioral economics, and tailoring to turn an extrinsic reward for behavior change into an internalized, self-sustaining motivator for long-term engagement in risk-reducing behaviors.

Incentives and nuclear waste siting: Prospects and constraints

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carnes, S.A.; Copenhaver, E.D.; Sorensen, J.H.; Soderstrom, E.J.; Reed, J.H.; Bjornstad, D.J.; Peelle, E.

1983-01-01

Limited anecdotal evidence from existing incentive-based facility sitings, and from a survey of rural Wisconsin residents in 1980 regarding the acceptability of a nuclear waste repository, indicates that incentives may help ahcieve the twin goals of increasing local support and decreasing local opposition to hosting nuclear waste facilities. Incentives are classified according to functional categories (i.e., mitigation, compensation, and reward), and prerequisites to the use of incentives are outlined (i.e., guarantee of public health and safety, some measure of local control, and a legitimation of negotiations during siting). Criteria for evaluating the utility of incentives packages may be more useful than single incentives, and nonmonetary incentives, such as independent monitoring and access to credible information, may be as important in eliciting support as monetary incentives. 54 references, 1 figure, 4 tables

Incentives and the siting of radioactive waste facilities

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Carnes, S.A.; Copenhaver, E.D.; Reed, J.H.; Soderstrom, E.J.; Sorensen, J.H.; Peelle, E.; Bjornstad, D.J.

1982-08-01

The importance of social and institutional issues in the siting of nuclear waste facilities has been recognized in recent years. Limited evidence from a survey of rural Wisconsin residents in 1980 indicates that incentives may help achieve the twin goals of increasing local support and decreasing local opposition to hosting nuclear waste facilities. Incentives are classified according to functional categories (i.e., mitigation, compensation, and reward) and the conditions which may be prerequisites to the use of incentives are outlined (i.e., guarantee of public health and safety, some measure of local control, and a legitimation of negotiations during siting). Criteria for evaluating the utility of incentives in nuclear waste repository siting are developed. Incentive packages may be more useful than single incentives, and nonmonetary incentives, such as independent monitoring and access to credible information, may be as important in eliciting support as monetary incentives. Without careful attention to prerequisites in the siting process it is not likely that incentives will facilitate the siting process.

DSM shareholder incentives: Current designs and economic theory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stoft, S.; Eto, J.; Kito, S.

1995-01-01

This report reviews recent DSM shareholder incentive designs and performance at 10 US utilities identifies opportunities for regulators to improve the design of DSM shareholder incentive mechanisms to increase the procurement of cost-effective DSM resources. We develop six recommendations: (1) apply shared-savings incentives to DSM resource programs; (2) use markup incentives for individual programs only when net benefits are difficult to measure, but are known to be positive; (3) set expected incentive payments based on covering a utility's open-quotes hidden costs,close quotes which include some transitional management and risk-adjusted opportunity costs; (4) use higher marginal incentives rates than are currently found in practice, but limit total incentive payments by adding a fixed charge; (5) mitigate risks to regulators and utilities by lowering marginal incentive rates at high and low performance levels; and (6) use an aggregate incentive mechanism for all DSM resource programs, with limited exceptions (e.g., information programs where markups are more appropriate)

Incentives and the siting of radioactive waste facilities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carnes, S.A.; Copenhaver, E.D.; Reed, J.H.; Soderstrom, E.J.; Sorensen, J.H.; Peelle, E.; Bjornstad, D.J.

1982-08-01

The importance of social and institutional issues in the siting of nuclear waste facilities has been recognized in recent years. Limited evidence from a survey of rural Wisconsin residents in 1980 indicates that incentives may help achieve the twin goals of increasing local support and decreasing local opposition to hosting nuclear waste facilities. Incentives are classified according to functional categories (i.e., mitigation, compensation, and reward) and the conditions which may be prerequisites to the use of incentives are outlined (i.e., guarantee of public health and safety, some measure of local control, and a legitimation of negotiations during siting). Criteria for evaluating the utility of incentives in nuclear waste repository siting are developed. Incentive packages may be more useful than single incentives, and nonmonetary incentives, such as independent monitoring and access to credible information, may be as important in eliciting support as monetary incentives. Without careful attention to prerequisites in the siting process it is not likely that incentives will facilitate the siting process

Influences on choice of surgery as a career: a study of consecutive cohorts in a medical school.

Science.gov (United States)

Sobral, Dejano T

2006-06-01

To examine the differential impact of person-based and programme-related features on graduates' dichotomous choice between surgical or non-surgical field specialties for first-year residency. A 10-year cohort study was conducted, following 578 students (55.4% male) who graduated from a university medical school during 1994-2003. Data were collected as follows: at the beginning of medical studies, on career preference and learning frame; during medical studies, on academic achievement, cross-year peer tutoring and selective clinical traineeship, and at graduation, on the first-year residency selected. Contingency and logistic regression analyses were performed, with graduates grouped by the dichotomous choice of surgery or not. Overall, 23% of graduates selected a first-year residency in surgery. Seven time-steady features related to this choice: male sex, high self-confidence, option of surgery at admission, active learning style, preference for surgery after Year 1, peer tutoring on clinical surgery, and selective training in clinical surgery. Logistic regression analysis, including all features, predicted 87.1% of the graduates' choices. Male sex, updated preference, peer tutoring and selective training were the most significant predictors in the pathway to choice. The relative roles of person-based and programme-related factors in the choice process are discussed. The findings suggest that for most students the choice of surgery derives from a temporal summation of influences that encompass entry and post-entry factors blended in variable patterns. It is likely that sex-unbiased peer tutoring and selective training supported the students' search process for personal compatibility with specialty-related domains of content and process.

Occupational choice and values.

OpenAIRE

Kantas, A.

1985-01-01

It is suggested that psychological and sociological approaches to occupational choice can be linked together by employment of three concepts: work salience, values and motivation. Employing Vroom's (1964) cognitive model of motivation occupational choice was examined as a value attainment process. The subjects were 225 male pupils of two different school complexes in Athens, Greece. They were asked to respond to a work salience questionnaire and to rank order a set of ...

A systematic review and meta-analysis of the effectiveness of nudging to increase fruit and vegetable choice

OpenAIRE

Broers, Valérie; De Breucker, Céline; Van den Broucke, Stephan; Luminet, Olivier

2017-01-01

BACKGROUND: Nudging refers to interventions that organize the choice architecture in order to alter people's behaviour in a predictable way without forbidding any options or significantly changing their economic incentives. As a strategy to encourage healthy behaviour, nudging can serve as a complement to health education. However, the empirical evidence regarding the effectiveness of nudging as a way to influence food choice remains contradictory. To address this issue, a systematic review a...

Quantum probability, choice in large worlds, and the statistical structure of reality.

Science.gov (United States)

Ross, Don; Ladyman, James

2013-06-01

Classical probability models of incentive response are inadequate in "large worlds," where the dimensions of relative risk and the dimensions of similarity in outcome comparisons typically differ. Quantum probability models for choice in large worlds may be motivated pragmatically - there is no third theory - or metaphysically: statistical processing in the brain adapts to the true scale-relative structure of the universe.

Stability of and Factors Related to Medical Student Specialty Choice of Psychiatry.

Science.gov (United States)

Goldenberg, Matthew N; Williams, D Keith; Spollen, John J

2017-09-01

Targeted efforts are needed to increase the number of medical students choosing psychiatry, but little is known about when students decide on their specialty or what factors influence their choice. The authors examined the timing and stability of student career choice of psychiatry compared with other specialties and determined what pre- and intra-medical school factors were associated with choosing a career in psychiatry. Using survey data from students who graduated from U.S. allopathic medical schools in 2013 and 2014 (N=29,713), the authors computed rates of psychiatry specialty choice at the beginning and end of medical school and assessed the stability of that choice. A multivariate-adjusted logistic regression and recursive partitioning were used to determine the association of 29 factors with psychiatry specialty choice. Choice of psychiatry increased from 1.6% at the start of medical school to 4.1% at graduation. The stability of psychiatry specialty choice from matriculation to graduation, at just over 50%, was greater than for any other specialty. However, almost 80% of future psychiatrists did not indicate an inclination toward the specialty at matriculation. A rating of "excellent" for the psychiatry clerkship (odds ratio=2.66), a major in psychology in college (odds ratio=2.58), and valuing work-life balance (odds ratio=2.25) were the factors most strongly associated with psychiatry career choice. Students who enter medical school planning to become psychiatrists are likely to do so, but the vast majority of students who choose psychiatry do so during medical school. Increasing the percentage of medical students with undergraduate psychology majors and providing an exemplary psychiatry clerkship are modifiable factors that may increase the rate of psychiatry specialty choice.

Food and beverage promotions in Minnesota secondary schools: secular changes, correlates, and associations with adolescents' dietary behaviors.

Science.gov (United States)

Larson, Nicole; Davey, Cynthia S; Coombes, Brandon; Caspi, Caitlin; Kubik, Martha Y; Nanney, Marilyn S

2014-12-01

The purpose of this study was to describe promotions for unhealthy and healthy foods and beverages within Minnesota secondary schools from 2008 to 2012, and to examine associations with school-level coordination of environmental improvements and students' dietary behaviors. The Minnesota School Health Profiles and Minnesota Student Survey data were used along with National Center for Education Statistics data to conduct analyses accounting for school-level demographics. There was no significant improvement over time in the proportion of schools that banned advertising for unhealthy products in school buildings, on school grounds, on buses, or in publications. Whereas more than two thirds of schools had implemented strategies focused on the promotion of fruits/vegetables by 2012, only 37% labeled healthful foods with appealing names and just 17% used price incentives to encourage healthy choices. The number of stakeholders representing different roles on school health councils was positively correlated with implementation of healthy food and beverage promotion strategies. Little evidence was found to support an influence of in-school advertising bans or promotions on students' diets. Policy changes are needed to protect students from food and beverage advertising and additional opportunities exist to reduce disparities in the selection of healthy options at school. © 2014, American School Health Association.

Boys' Music? School Context and Middle-School Boys' Musical Choices

Science.gov (United States)

Bennetts, Kathleen Scott

2013-01-01

This article focusses primarily on the findings relating to the musical participation of boys in one Melbourne school. As part of a project that investigated boys' attitudes and participation at fifty-one schools, several contextual features were identified that set "Balton Boys" High School' apart from other participating schools,…

Does students' exposure to gender discrimination and sexual harassment in medical school affect specialty choice and residency program selection?

Science.gov (United States)

Stratton, Terry D; McLaughlin, Margaret A; Witte, Florence M; Fosson, Sue E; Nora, Lois Margaret

2005-04-01

To examine the role of gender discrimination and sexual harassment in medical students' choice of specialty and residency program. Anonymous, self-administered questionnaires were distributed in 1997 to fourth-year students enrolled in 14 public and private U.S. medical schools. In addition to reporting the frequency of gender discrimination and sexual harassment encountered during preclinical coursework, core clerkships, elective clerkships, and residency selection, students assessed the impact of these exposures (none, a little, some, quite a bit, the deciding factor) on their specialty choices and rankings of residency programs. A total of 1,314 (69%) useable questionnaires were returned. Large percentages of men (83.2%) and women (92.8%) experienced, observed, or heard about at least one incident of gender discrimination and sexual harassment during medical school, although more women reported such behavior across all training contexts. Compared with men, significantly (p harassment influenced their specialty choices (45.3% versus 16.4%) and residency rankings (25.3% versus 10.9%). Across all specialties, more women than men experienced gender discrimination and sexual harassment during residency selection, with one exception: a larger percentage of men choosing obstetrics and gynecology experienced such behavior. Among women, those choosing general surgery were most likely to experience gender discrimination and sexual harassment during residency selection. Interestingly, correlations between exposure to gender discrimination and sexual harassment and self-assessed impact on career decisions tended to be larger for men, suggesting that although fewer men are generally affected, they may weigh such experiences more heavily in their choice of specialty and residency program. This study suggests that exposure to gender discrimination and sexual harassment during undergraduate education may influence some medical students' choice of specialty and, to a lesser

Incentives to promote family planning.

Science.gov (United States)

Heil, Sarah H; Gaalema, Diann E; Herrmann, Evan S

2012-11-01

Over the past 60 years, population control has become an increasingly urgent issue worldwide as a growing population strains already limited resources. The use of financial incentives to promote family planning is an innovative approach that has potential to make a contribution to efforts to better manage population growth. This report reviews eight studies that examined the effect of incentives on family planning. Published studies that tested the impact of incentives to promote some aspect of family planning and included an appropriate control or comparison condition were reviewed. Incentives have been used to promote attendance at contraceptive education sessions, adoption and continuation of contraceptive methods, sterilization, and to limit family size. All but one of the eight studies reviewed reported positive outcomes, but weaknesses in study design and execution limit the strength of the conclusions that can be drawn. Review of this literature suggests that family planning behaviors, like other behaviors, are sensitive to incentives. Given the tremendous need for efficacious interventions in global efforts to manage population growth, further research on this topic using more rigorous experimental methods is warranted. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Families, School Choice, and Democratic Iterations on the Right to Education and Freedom of Education in Finnish Municipalities

Science.gov (United States)

Varjo, Janne; Kalalahti, Mira; Silvennoinen, Heikki

2014-01-01

This article analyzes the ways in which the right to education and freedom of education are expressed in local school choice policies in Finland. We aim to discover the elements that form democratic iterations on the right to education and freedom of education by contrasting their manifestations in three local institutional spaces for parental…

Food and beverage promotions in Minnesota secondary schools: secular changes, correlates, and associations with adolescents’ dietary behaviors

Science.gov (United States)

Larson, Nicole; Davey, Cynthia S.; Coombes, Brandon; Caspi, Caitlin; Kubik, Martha Y.; Nanney, Marilyn S.

2014-01-01

BACKGROUND The purpose of this study was to describe promotions for unhealthy and healthy foods and beverages within Minnesota secondary schools from 2008 to 2012, and to examine associations with school-level coordination of environmental improvements and students’ dietary behaviors. METHODS The Minnesota School Health Profiles and Minnesota Student Survey data were used along with National Center for Education Statistics data to conduct analyses accounting for school-level demographics. RESULTS There was no significant improvement over time in the proportion of schools that banned advertising for unhealthy products in school buildings, on school grounds, on buses, or in publications. Whereas more than two-thirds of schools had implemented strategies focused on the promotion of fruits/vegetables by 2012, only 37% labeled healthful foods with appealing names and just 17% used price incentives to encourage healthy choices. The number of stakeholders representing different roles on school health councils was positively correlated with implementation of healthy food and beverage promotion strategies. Little evidence was found to support an influence of in-school advertising bans or promotions on students’ diets. CONCLUSIONS Policy changes are needed to protect students from food and beverage advertising and additional opportunities exist to reduce disparities in the selection of healthy options at school. PMID:25388594

A Choice for the Chosen.

Science.gov (United States)

Rabkin, Jeremy

1999-01-01

Examines reasons for opposition to school-choice programs by the American Jewish Congress and the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai Brith. There is skepticism that more Jewish families would send their children to separate schools, and there is concern that government aid would foster a more religious tone in the country. Suggests that these…

Does Expert Advice Improve Educational Choice?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lex Borghans

Full Text Available This paper reports evidence that an individual meeting with a study counselor at high school significantly improves the quality of choice of tertiary educational field, as self-assessed 18 months after graduation from college. To address endogeneity, we explore the variation in study counseling practices between schools as an instrumental variable (IV. Following careful scrutiny of the validity of the IV, our results indicate a significant and positive influence of study counseling on the quality of educational choice, foremost among males and those with low educated parents. The overall result is stable across a number of robustness checks.

A Game-Theory Based Incentive Framework for an Intelligent Traffic System as Part of a Smart City Initiative.

Science.gov (United States)

Mei, Haibo; Poslad, Stefan; Du, Shuang

2017-12-11

Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITSs) can be applied to inform and incentivize travellers to help them make cognizant choices concerning their trip routes and transport modality use for their daily travel whilst achieving more sustainable societal and transport authority goals. However, in practice, it is challenging for an ITS to enable incentive generation that is context-driven and personalized, whilst supporting multi-dimensional travel goals. This is because an ITS has to address the situation where different travellers have different travel preferences and constraints for route and modality, in the face of dynamically-varying traffic conditions. Furthermore, personalized incentive generation also needs to dynamically achieve different travel goals from multiple travellers, in the face of their conducts being a mix of both competitive and cooperative behaviours. To address this challenge, a Rule-based Incentive Framework (RIF) is proposed in this paper that utilizes both decision tree and evolutionary game theory to process travel information and intelligently generate personalized incentives for travellers. The travel information processed includes travellers' mobile patterns, travellers' modality preferences and route traffic volume information. A series of MATLAB simulations of RIF was undertaken to validate RIF to show that it is potentially an effective way to incentivize travellers to change travel routes and modalities as an essential smart city service.

Choice architecture interventions for increased vegetable intake and behaviour change in a school setting: a systematic review.

Science.gov (United States)

Nørnberg, Trine Riebeling; Houlby, Louise; Skov, Laurits Rohden; Peréz-Cueto, Federico Jose Armando

2016-05-01

The primary objective of this review is to assess the prevalence and quality of published studies on the effect of choice architectural nudge interventions promoting vegetable consumption among adolescents. Additionally, this review aims to identify studies estimating adolescents' attitude towards choice architectural nudge interventions. Web of Science, Scopus and PubMed were searched systematically for experimental studies with a predefined search strategy in the period November-December 2013. Publications were included following predetermined inclusion criteria. Studies were evaluated as of high, moderate or weak quality. Finally, studies were grouped by the type of intervention and underwent a narrative synthesis. The search showed that only very few studies investigated the effects of choice architectural nudging interventions on vegetable consumption, and none of them had attitude towards behavioural interventions as an outcome measure. Twelve studies met the inclusion criteria. The results of the 12 studies were inconclusive, and the majority of studies were of weak or moderate quality. This review uncovers a gap in knowledge on the effect of choice architectural nudge interventions aiming to promote the intake of vegetables among adolescents in a school context. It also highlights that no previous studies have considered the attitudes towards choice architectural nudge interventions as a potential factor for their success - or lack thereof - in achieving the desired goal of increased vegetable consumption. © Royal Society for Public Health 2015.

Marketing, Information, and Parental Choice: A Comparative Case Study of Third-Party, Federally Funded Out-of-School-Time Services

Science.gov (United States)

Stewart, Molly S.; Good, Annalee G.

2016-01-01

Information and promotional marketing play central but complex roles in market-based educational programs. This in-depth qualitative study examines these complexities using the case of Supplemental Educational Services, a parental choice program providing federally funded tutoring to low-income students in K-12 public schools. Examining the…

Immigrant Charter Schools: A Better Choice?

Science.gov (United States)

Jackson, Camille

2010-01-01

Third-grader Jaime of Denver, Colorado, was having a hard time concentrating in school. The son of Mexican immigrants, he had learned to speak English perfectly in his dual-language public school, but reading and writing was another story. When her mother knew about Cesar Chavez Academy, a new tuition-free charter school where the majority of…

An Exploratory Account of Incentives for Underexploitation in an Open Innovation Environment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Piirainen, Kalle; Raivio, Tuomas; Lähteenmäki-smith, Kaisa

2014-01-01

This paper presents an empirical account of incentives for underexploiting intellectual property in an open innovation setting. In this exploratory empirical account the phenomenon is observed in a research, development and innovation program where participants are required to share intellectual...... such an event is not only costly in terms of time and resources, but can in fact render IPR effectively worthless in terms of commercial exploitation and block innovation. This finding is pertinent to policy makers designing research, development and innovation instruments, as well as for managers who need...... to make choices how to implement open practices in innovation....

Healthier food choices as a result of the revised healthy diet programme Krachtvoer for students of prevocational schools

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bessems Kathelijne MHH

2012-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Krachtvoer is a Dutch healthy diet programme for prevocational schools, developed in 2001 and revised for a broader target group in 2007, based on the findings of an evaluation of the first version. The goal of this study was to report on the short- and longer-term total and subgroup effects of the revised programme on students’ fruit, fruit juice, breakfast, and snack consumption. Methods Schools were randomized to the experimental condition, teaching the Krachtvoer programme, or to the control condition teaching the regular nutrition lessons. Self-reported consumption of fruit, fruit juice, breakfast and snacks was measured at baseline directly before programme implementation, one to four weeks after finishing programme implementation, and after six months. Mixed linear and logistic regression analyses were conducted. Results In total 1117 students of 13 experimental schools and 758 students of 11 control schools participated in the study. Short- and longer-term favourable intervention effects were found on fruit consumption (mean difference between experimental and control group 0.15 servings at both posttests. Regarding fruit juice consumption, only short-term favourable effects were revealed (mean difference between experimental and control group 0.05 glasses. Intervention effects on breakfast intakes were limited. No changes in snack frequency were reported, but students made healthier snack choices as a result of the programme. Some favourable as well as unfavourable effects occurred in subgroups of students. Conclusions The effects on fruit consumption and snack choices justify the current nationwide dissemination of the programme. Achieving changes in breakfast consumption may, however, require other strategies.

Choice of Professional and Educational Route in High School Students with Disabilities: University Education in the Context of Motivation and Needs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kantor V.Z.

2018-05-01

Full Text Available The article presents the results of a questionnaire survey in the context of the idea of continuity of school and university education of persons with disabilities. 90 senior students with visual, hearing and motor impairments were the respondents of the survey. The purpose of the survey was to study the motives, preferences and needs of school graduates among disabled people, which determine the choice of their vocational and educational route. The survey reveals features of motivation for professional choice of various categories of enrollees with disabilities and its informational support; assesses the level of these enrollees needs in helping by career counselors; identifies the preferred forms of higher education by persons with disabilities; characterizes the needs of people with disabilities in special equipment and services in obtaining higher education, as well as in adaptation of educational programs in the university. The resulting practical-oriented conclusions concern both purpose and content of the work with disabled enrollees from among school graduates as well as approaches to the organization of higher education for persons with disabilities.

Incentives for partitioning, revisited

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cloninger, M.O.

1980-01-01

The incentives for separating and eliminating various elements from radioactive waste prior to final geologic disposal were investigated. Exposure pathways to humans were defined, and potential radiation doses to an individual living within the region of influence of the underground storage site were calculated. The assumed radionuclide source was 1/5 of the accumulated high-level waste from the US nuclear power economy through the year 2000. The repository containing the waste was assumed to be located in a reference salt site geology. The study required numerous assumptions concerning the transport of radioactivity from the geologic storage site to man. The assumptions used maximized the estimated potential radiation doses, particularly in the case of the intrusion water well scenario, where hydrologic flow field dispersion effects were ignored. Thus, incentives for removing elements from the waste tended to be maximized. Incentives were also maximized by assuming that elements removed from the waste could be eliminated from the earth without risk. The results of the study indicate that for reasonable disposal conditions, incentives for partitioning any elements from the waste in order to minimize the risk to humans are marginal at best

Acceptability and feasibility of a financial incentive intervention to improve retention in HIV care among pregnant women in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Science.gov (United States)

Clouse, Kate; Mongwenyana, Constance; Musina, Melda; Bokaba, Dorah; Long, Lawrence; Maskew, Mhairi; Ahonkhai, Aima; Fox, Matthew P

2018-04-01

Women initiating antiretroviral therapy during pregnancy are at high risk of dropping out of HIV care after delivery. We assessed the acceptability and feasibility of a financial incentive - a one-time R50 (∼USD4) supermarket voucher for completing one postpartum visit ≤10 weeks of delivery - to improve postpartum retention. We enrolled 100 pregnant, HIV-positive women at a primary health clinic in Johannesburg, South Africa. Participants were interviewed at enrollment and we reviewed files to assess retention ≥14 weeks postpartum. Median (IQR) respondent age was 28 years (24-31) and 31% were employed. Most (86%) said the incentive would motivate them to return and 76% supported clinics offering incentives. Among the 23% who found the intervention unacceptable, the most frequent reason was perceived personal responsibility for health. Feasibility was demonstrated, as 79.7% (51/64) of eligible participants received a voucher. When asked to rank preferred hypothetical incentive interventions, assistance with social services ranked first (29%), followed by infant formula (22%) and cash (21%); assistance with social services was the top-ranked choice by both those who found the voucher incentive intervention acceptable and unacceptable. To encourage HIV-positive women to remain in care, respondents most frequently suggested health education (34%), counseling (29%), financial incentives (25%), home visits (13%), and better service (6%). Our results suggest financial incentives are acceptable, but women frequently expressed preference for integrated services and improved education and counseling to improve retention. Interventions exploring the feasibility and efficacy of education and counseling interventions to improve postpartum HIV care are warranted.

Mitigating Inadvertent Insider Threats with Incentives

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Debin; Wang, Xiaofeng; Camp, L. Jean

Inadvertent insiders are trusted insiders who do not have malicious intent (as with malicious insiders) but do not responsibly managing security. The result is often enabling a malicious outsider to use the privileges of the inattentive insider to implement an insider attack. This risk is as old as conversion of a weak user password into root access, but the term inadvertent insider is recently coined to identify the link between the behavior and the vulnerability. In this paper, we propose to mitigate this threat using a novel risk budget mechanism that offers incentives to an insider to behave according to the risk posture set by the organization. We propose assigning an insider a risk budget, which is a specific allocation of risk points, allowing employees to take a finite number of risk-seeking choice. In this way, the employee can complete her tasks without subverting the security system, as with absolute prohibitions. In the end, the organization penalizes the insider if she fails to accomplish her task within the budget while rewards her in the presence of a surplus. Most importantly. the risk budget requires that the user make conscious visible choices to take electronic risks. We describe the theory behind the system, including specific work on the insider threats. We evaluated this approach using human-subject experiments, which demonstrate the effectiveness of our risk budget mechanism. We also present a game theoretic analysis of the mechanism.

An Australian Study Comparing the Use of Multiple-Choice Questionnaires with Assignments as Interim, Summative Law School Assessment

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Vicki

2017-01-01

To the author's knowledge, this is the first Australian study to empirically compare the use of a multiple-choice questionnaire (MCQ) with the use of a written assignment for interim, summative law school assessment. This study also surveyed the same student sample as to what types of assessments are preferred and why. In total, 182 undergraduate…

Linking implementation process to intervention outcomes in a middle school obesity prevention curriculum, ‘Choice, Control and Change’

Science.gov (United States)

Gray, Heewon Lee; Contento, Isobel R.; Koch, Pamela A.

2015-01-01

This study investigates the link between process evaluation components and the outcomes of a school-based nutrition curriculum intervention, ‘Choice, Control and Change’. Ten New York City public middle schools were recruited and randomly assigned into intervention or control condition. The curriculum was to improve sixth to seventh grade students’ energy balance related behaviors, based on social cognitive and self-determination theories, and implemented during the 2006–2007 school year (n = 1136). Behaviors and psychosocial variables were measured by self-reported questionnaires. Process components were evaluated with classroom observations, teacher interviews, and a student questionnaire. Using ‘Teacher Implementation’ (dose delivered) and ‘Student Reception’ (dose received) process data; intervention group was further categorized into medium- and high-implementation groups. Analysis of covariance revealed that, compared with control group, only high-implementation group showed significant improvement in students’ behavior and psychosocial outcomes. Hierarchical linear models showed that ‘Teacher Implementation’ and ‘Student Reception’ significantly predicted students’ sweetened beverage outcomes (P < 0.05). ‘Student Satisfaction’ was also greater when these implementation components were higher, and significantly associated with behavior and psychosocial outcomes (P < 0.05). Implementation process influenced the effectiveness of the ‘Choice, Control and Change’ intervention study. It is important to take into account the process components when interpreting the results of such research. PMID:25700557

Review of performance-based incentives in community-based family planning programmes

Science.gov (United States)

Bellows, Nicole M; Askew, Ian; Bellows, Benjamin

2015-01-01

Background One strategy for improving family planning (FP) uptake at the community level is the use of performance-based incentives (PBIs), which offer community distributors financial incentives to recruit more users of FP. This article examines the use of PBIs in community-based FP programmes via a literature search of the peer-reviewed and grey literature conducted in April 2013. Results A total of 28 community-based FP programmes in 21 countries were identified as having used PBIs. The most common approach was a sales commission model where distributors received commission for FP products sold, while a referral payment model for long-term methods was also used extensively. Six evaluations were identified that specifically examined the impact of the PBI in community-based FP programmes. Overall, the results of the evaluations are mixed and more research is needed; however, the findings suggest that easy-to-understand PBIs can be successful in increasing the use of FP at the community level. Conclusion For future use of PBIs in community-based FP programmes it is important to consider the ethics of incentivising FP and ensuring that PBIs are non-coercive and choice-enhancing. PMID:25037703

48 CFR 1552.216-77 - Award term incentive.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... award term incentive periods] years. (c) Right not to grant or cancel the award term incentive. (1) The Government has the unilateral right not to grant or to cancel award term incentive periods and the associated... the award term incentive is cancelled, a unilateral modification will cite this clause as the...

‘Membership Has Its Privileges’: Status Incentives and Categorical Inequality in Education

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Thurston Domina

2016-05-01

Full Text Available Prizes – formal systems that publicly allocate rewards for exemplary behavior – play an increasingly important role in a wide array of social settings, including education. In this paper, we evaluate a prize system designed to boost achievement at two high schools by assigning students color-coded ID cards based on a previously low stakes test. Average student achievement on this test increased in the ID card schools beyond what one would expect from contemporaneous changes in neighboring schools. However, regression discontinuity analyses indicate that the program created new inequalities between students who received low-status and high-status ID cards. These findings indicate that status-based incentives create categorical inequalities between prize winners and others even as they reorient behavior toward the goals they reward.

Merger incentives and the failing firm defense

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bouckaert, J.M.C.; Kort, P.M.

2014-01-01

The merger incentives between profitable firms differ fundamentally from the incentives of a profitable firm to merge with a failing firm. We investigate these incentives under different modes of price competition and Cournot behavior. Our main finding is that firms strictly prefer exit of the

U.S. Army Incentive Program: Incentives That Motivate Recruiters

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Starkey, Benjamin

1999-01-01

.... Sixty recruiters and staff personnel at the brigade, battalion and company echelons were randomly selected and interviewed on how the various national and local incentives motivate recruiters to meet...

Drilling contracts and incentives

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Osmundsen, Petter; Sorenes, Terje; Toft, Anders

2008-01-01

Shortages of rigs and personnel have encouraged discussion of designing incentive contracts in the drilling sector. However, for the drilling contracts, there are not a large variety of contract types in use. This article describes and analyses incentives for drilling contractors. These are directly represented by the compensation formats utilised in the present and in the consecutive drilling contracts. Indirectly, incentives are also provided by the evaluation criteria that oil companies use for awarding drilling assignments. Changes in contract format pose a number of relevant questions relating to resource management, and the article takes an in-depth look at some of these. Do evaluation criteria for awarding drilling assignments encourage the development of new technology and solutions? How will a stronger focus on drilling efficiency influence reservoir utilisation?

Choice and Compulsion: The End of an Era.

Science.gov (United States)

McGhan, Barry

1998-01-01

Parents want to send their children to schools that are free not to teach everyone. Since schools are susceptible to societal disorders, pressures to provide school choices offering "safe havens" for learning will persist. Schools can do little to protect their learning environment from uncooperative students. A forced-exit process for unruly…

Countervailing incentives in value-based payment.

Science.gov (United States)

Arnold, Daniel R

2017-09-01

Payment reform has been at the forefront of the movement toward higher-value care in the U.S. health care system. A common belief is that volume-based incentives embedded in fee-for-service need to be replaced with value-based payments. While this belief is well-intended, value-based payment also contains perverse incentives. In particular, behavioral economists have identified several features of individual decision making that reverse some of the typical recommendations for inducing desirable behavior through financial incentives. This paper discusses the countervailing incentives associated with four behavioral economic concepts: loss aversion, relative social ranking, inertia or status quo bias, and extrinsic vs. intrinsic motivation. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Effort and Selection Effects of Incentive Contracts

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bouwens, J.F.M.G.; van Lent, L.A.G.M.

2003-01-01

We show that the improved effort of employees associated with incentive contracts depends on the properties of the performance measures used in the contract.We also find that the power of incentives in the contract is only indirectly related to any improved employee effort.High powered incentive

The role of behavioral economic incentive design and demographic characteristics in financial incentive-based approaches to changing health behaviors: a meta-analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Haff, Nancy; Patel, Mitesh S; Lim, Raymond; Zhu, Jingsan; Troxel, Andrea B; Asch, David A; Volpp, Kevin G

2015-01-01

To evaluate the use of behavioral economics to design financial incentives to promote health behavior change and to explore associations with demographic characteristics. Studies performed by the Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics at the University of Pennsylvania published between January 2006 and March 2014. Randomized, controlled trials with available participant-level data. Studies that did not use financial incentives to promote health behavior change were excluded. Participant-level data from seven studies were pooled. Meta-analysis on the pooled sample using a random-effects model with interaction terms to examine treatment effects and whether they varied by incentive structure or demographic characteristics. The pooled study sample comprised 1403 participants, of whom 35% were female, 70% were white, 24% were black, and the mean age was 48 years (standard deviation 11.2 years). In the fully adjusted model, participants offered financial incentives had higher odds of behavior change (odds ratio [OR]: 3.96; p financial incentives and gender, age, race, income, or education. When further adjusting for incentive structure, blacks had higher odds than whites of achieving behavior change (OR: 1.67; p Financial incentives designed using concepts from behavioral economics were effective for promoting health behavior change. There were no large and consistent relationships between the effectiveness of financial incentives and observable demographic characteristics. Second-order examinations of incentive structure suggest potential relationships among the effectiveness of financial incentives, incentive structure, and the demographic characteristics of race and income.

Professional norms, public service motivation and economic incentives

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, Lotte Bøgh

2007-01-01

The theories of professions, public service motivation, and economic incentives explain the behaviour of the producers of publicly financed services differently. They emphasize professional norms, sector, and economic incentives, respectively. The few existing attempts to integrate these theories...... have, however, indicated that these factors interact. Using interviews, surveys and registers, the paper investigated how professional norms, economic incentives and sector affected the behaviour of Danish dentists and physicians. It was found that when strong professional norms existed, economic...... incentives were unimportant for both public and private employees. In contrast, when no firm professional norm applied, economic incentives affected behaviour. Controlling for different economic incentives, sector does not seem to affect the behaviour much. The results imply that the economic...

Incentives for reducing emissions in Krakow

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Uberman, R.; Pierce, B.; Lazecki, A.

1994-01-01

This effort is identifying, specific incentives that may be used by Krakow city officials to encourage, residents to change the way they heat their homes and businesses in order to reduce pollution. This paper describes the incentives study for converting small coal or coke-fired boilers to gas in the Old Town area. A similar study looked at incentives for expanding the district heating system and future analyses will be performed for home stove options

Field Dependence-Field Independence Cognitive Style, Gender, Career Choice and Academic Achievement of Secondary School Students in Emohua Local Government Area of Rivers State

Science.gov (United States)

Onyekuru, Bruno Uchenna

2015-01-01

This is a descriptive study that investigated the relationships among field dependence-field independence cognitive style and gender, career choice and academic achievement of secondary school students in Emohua Local Government Area of Rivers State, Nigeria. From the initial sample of 320 senior secondary school one (SS1) students drawn from the…

Effects of the Informed Health Choices podcast on the ability of parents of primary school children in Uganda to assess claims about treatment effects: a randomised controlled trial.

Science.gov (United States)

Semakula, Daniel; Nsangi, Allen; Oxman, Andrew D; Oxman, Matt; Austvoll-Dahlgren, Astrid; Rosenbaum, Sarah; Morelli, Angela; Glenton, Claire; Lewin, Simon; Kaseje, Margaret; Chalmers, Iain; Fretheim, Atle; Kristoffersen, Doris Tove; Sewankambo, Nelson K

2017-07-22

As part of the Informed Health Choices project, we developed a podcast called The Health Choices Programme to help improve the ability of people to assess claims about the benefits and harms of treatments. We aimed to evaluate the effects of the podcast on the ability of parents of primary school children in Uganda to assess claims about the effects of treatments. We did this randomised controlled trial in central Uganda. We recruited parents of children aged 10-12 years who were in their fifth year of school at 35 schools that were participating in a linked trial of the Informed Health Choices primary school resources. The parents were randomly allocated (1:1), via a web-based random number generator with block sizes of four and six, to listen to either the Informed Health Choices podcast (intervention group) or typical public service announcements about health issues (control group). Randomisation was stratified by parents' highest level of formal education attained (primary school, secondary school, or tertiary education) and the allocation of their children's school in the trial of the primary school resources (intervention vs control). The primary outcome, measured after listening to the entire podcast, was the mean score and the proportion of parents with passing scores on a test with two multiple choice questions for each of nine key concepts essential to assessing claims about treatments (18 questions in total). We did intention-to-treat analyses. This trial is registered with the Pan African Clinical Trial Registry, number PACTR201606001676150. We recruited parents between July 21, 2016, and Oct 7, 2016. We randomly assigned 675 parents to the podcast group (n=334) or the public service announcement group (n=341); 561 (83%) participants completed follow-up. The mean score for parents in the podcast group was 67·8% (SD 19·6) compared with 52·4% (17·6) in the control group (adjusted mean difference 15·5%, 95% CI 12·5-18·6; pparents had a predetermined

Response to moral choices as a function of self-esteem.

Science.gov (United States)

Dai, Yong; Nolan, Rebecca F; White, Barzanna

2002-06-01

This study investigated the relationship between self-reported self-esteem and academic moral choice by 162 middle school students enrolled in Grades 6, 7, and 8 of public institutions. They were presented nine moral situations (five are school-related) and the Coopersmith Self-esteem Inventory (School Form). Analysis indicated that four of the five school-related moral situations were statistically significantly related to scores of self-esteem. Students reporting higher self-esteem were more likely to make a moral choice in a given academic situation. It is recommended that support of academic honesty can be encouraged by increasing youth self-esteem.

Horticultural Households Profit Optimization and the Efficiency of Labour Contract Choice

OpenAIRE

Ndoye Niane, A.F.; Burger, C.P.J.; Bulte, E.H.

2010-01-01

In agriculture, the coexistence of different forms of land tenancy or labour contract has been explained so far by several theories related to Marshallian inefficiency, incentives, risk sharing, and transaction costs, including supervision costs. These theories and the empirical evidences have greatly contributed to explain the reasons behind land tenancy or labour contract choice. This study follows up on this. Moreover, it intends to take a further step by focusing particularly on the produ...

How Can Clients Improve the Quality of Transport Infrastructure Projects? The Role of Knowledge Management and Incentives

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abukar Warsame

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The aim of this paper is to argue for a number of statements about what is important for a client to do in order to improve quality in new infrastructure projects, with a focus on procurement and organizational issues. The paper synthesizes theoretical and empirical results concerning organizational performance, especially the role of the client for the quality of a project. The theoretical framework used is contract theory and transaction cost theory, where assumptions about rationality and self-interest are made and where incentive problems, asymmetric information, and moral hazard are central concepts. It is argued that choice of procurement type will not be a crucial factor. There is no procurement method that guarantees a better quality than another. We argue that given the right conditions all procurement methods can give good results, and given the wrong conditions, all of them can lead to low quality. What is crucial is how the client organization manages knowledge and the incentives for the members of the organization. This can be summarized as “organizational culture.” One way to improve knowledge and create incentives is to use independent second opinions in a systematic way.

Wellness Programs With Financial Incentives Through Disparities Lens.

Science.gov (United States)

Cuellar, Alison; LoSasso, Anthony T; Shah, Mona; Atwood, Alicia; Lewis-Walls, Tanya R

2018-02-01

To examine wellness programs with financial incentives and their effect on disparities in preventive care. Financial incentives were introduced by 15 large employers, from 2010 to 2013. Fifteen private employers. A total of 299 436 employees and adult dependents. Preventive services and participation in financial incentives. Multivariate linear regression. Disparities in preventive services widened after introduction of financial incentives. Asians were 3% more likely and African Americans were 3% less likely to receive wellness rewards than whites and non-Hispanics, controlling for other factors. Federal law limits targeting of wellness financial incentives by subgroups; thus, employers should consider outreach and culturally appropriate messaging.

Layoffs as part of an optimal incentive mix:

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Frederiksen, Anders; Takáts, Elöd

Firms offer highly complex contracts to their employees. These contracts contain a mix of incentives, such as fixed wages, bonus payments, promotion options, and layoff threats. In general, economists understand how incentives motivate employees but not why a particular mix should be used....... In this paper we present a model in which the observed incentive mix is an optimal contract. In particular, we show that it can be optimal for firms to combine cost-efficient incentives such as promotions and bonuses with layoffs. The intuition is that layoffs play a dual role. First, they create incentives...

Review of "School Choice by the Numbers: The Fiscal Effect of School Choice Programs 1990-2006"

Science.gov (United States)

Baker, Bruce

2007-01-01

This review considers the recently released study by Susan Aud of the Milton & Rose D. Friedman Foundation, concerning the fiscal effects of school vouchers policies. Aud calculates the simple difference between, on the one hand, state and local government spending on students attending traditional public schools, and, on the other, the government…

School-based interventions for preventing Hiv, sexually transmitted infections, and pregnancy in adolescents

Science.gov (United States)

Mason-Jones, Amanda J; Sinclair, David; Mathews, Catherine; Kagee, Ashraf; Hillman, Alex; Lombard, Carl

2016-01-01

-based programmes The single trial that evaluated free school uniforms also included a trial arm in which participants received both uniforms and a programme of sexual and reproductive education. In this trial arm herpes simplex virus infection was reduced (RR 0.82, 95% CI 0.68 to 0.99; one trial, 5899 participants; low certainty evidence), predominantly in young women, but no effect was detected for HIV or pregnancy (low certainty evidence). Authors' conclusions There is a continued need to provide health services to adolescents that include contraceptive choices and condoms and that involve them in the design of services. Schools may be a good place in which to provide these services. There is little evidence that educational curriculum-based programmes alone are effective in improving sexual and reproductive health outcomes for adolescents. Incentive-based interventions that focus on keeping young people in secondary school may reduce adolescent pregnancy but further trials are needed to confirm this. School-based interventions for preventing HIV, sexually transmitted infections, and pregnancy in adolescents Cochrane researchers conducted a review of the effects of school-based interventions for reducing HIV, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and pregnancy in adolescents. After searching for relevant trials up to 7 April 2016, they included eight trials that had enrolled 55,157 adolescents. Why is this important and how might school-based programmes work? Sexually active adolescents, particularly young women, are at high risk in many countries of contracting HIV and other STIs. Early unintended pregnancy can also have a detrimental impact on young people's lives. The school environment plays an important role in the development of children and young people, and curriculum-based sexuality education programmes have become popular in many regions of the world. While there is some evidence that these programmes improve knowledge and reduce self-reported risk taking, this

Incentives for non-physician health professionals to work in the rural and remote areas of Mozambique--a discrete choice experiment for eliciting job preferences.

Science.gov (United States)

Honda, Ayako; Vio, Ferruccio

2015-04-26

Successfully motivating and retaining health workers is critical for the effective performance of health systems. In Mozambique, a shortage of health care professionals and low levels of staff motivation in rural and remote areas pose challenges to the provision of equitable health care delivery. This study provides quantitative information on the job preferences of non-physician health professionals in Mozambique, examining how different aspects of jobs are valued and how health professionals might respond to policy options that would post them to district hospitals in rural areas. The study used a discrete choice experiment (DCE) to elicit the job preferences of non-physician health professionals. Data collection took place in four Mozambique provinces: Maputo City, Maputo Province, Sofala and Nampula. DCE questionnaires were administered to 334 non-physician health professionals with specialized or university training ('mid-level specialists' and N1 and N2 categories). In addition, questionnaires were administered to 123 N1 and N2 students to enable comparison of the results for those with work experience with those without and determine how new N1 and N2 graduates can be attracted to rural posts. The results indicate that the provision of basic government housing has the greatest impact on the probability of choosing a job at a public health facility, followed by the provision of formal education opportunities and the availability of equipment and medicine at a health facility. The sub-group analysis suggests that job preferences vary according to stage of life and that incentive packages should vary accordingly. Recruitment strategies to encourage non-clinical professionals to work in rural/remote areas should also consider birthplace, as those born in rural/remote areas are more willing to work remotely. The study was undertaken within an overarching project that aimed to develop incentive packages for non-physician health professionals assigned to work in

Private versus social incentives for pharmaceutical innovation.

Science.gov (United States)

González, Paula; Macho-Stadler, Inés; Pérez-Castrillo, David

2016-12-01

We provide a theoretical framework to contribute to the current debate regarding the tendency of pharmaceutical companies to direct their R&D toward marketing products that are "follow-on" drugs of already existing drugs, rather than toward the development of breakthrough drugs. We construct a model with a population of patients who can be treated with drugs that are horizontally and vertically differentiated. In addition to a pioneering drug, a new drug can be marketed as the result of an innovative process. We analyze physician prescription choices and the optimal pricing decision of an innovative firm. We also characterize the incentives of the innovative firm to conduct R&D activities, disentangling the quest for breakthrough drugs from the firm effort to develop follow-on drugs. Our results offer theoretical support for the conventional wisdom that pharmaceutical firms devote too many resources to conducting R&D activities that lead to incremental innovations. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The use of financial incentives in Australian general practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Kecmanovic, Milica; Hall, Jane P

2015-05-18

To examine the uptake of financial incentive payments in general practice, and identify what types of practitioners are more likely to participate in these schemes. Analysis of data on general practitioners and GP registrars from the Medicine in Australia - Balancing Employment and Life (MABEL) longitudinal panel survey of medical practitioners in Australia, from 2008 to 2011. Income received by GPs from government incentive schemes and grants and factors associated with the likelihood of claiming such incentives. Around half of GPs reported receiving income from financial incentives in 2008, and there was a small fall in this proportion by 2011. There was considerable movement into and out of the incentives schemes, with more GPs exiting than taking up grants and payments. GPs working in larger practices with greater administrative support, GPs practising in rural areas and those who were principals or partners in practices were more likely to use grants and incentive payments. Administrative support available to GPs appears to be an increasingly important predictor of incentive use, suggesting that the administrative burden of claiming incentives is large and not always worth the effort. It is, therefore, crucial to consider such costs (especially relative to the size of the payment) when designing incentive payments. As market conditions are also likely to influence participation in incentive schemes, the impact of incentives can change over time and these schemes should be reviewed regularly.

Incentive Mechanism of Micro-grid Project Development

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yong Long

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Due to the issue of cost and benefit, the investment demand and consumption demand of micro-grids are insufficient in the early stages, which makes all parties lack motivation to participate in the development of micro-grid projects and leads to the slow development of micro-grids. In order to promote the development of micro-grids, the corresponding incentive mechanism should be designed to motivate the development of micro-grid projects. Therefore, this paper builds a multi-stage incentive model of micro-grid project development involving government, grid corporation, energy supplier, equipment supplier, and the user in order to study the incentive problems of micro-grid project development. Through the solution and analysis of the model, this paper deduces the optimal subsidy of government and the optimal cooperation incentive of the energy supplier, and calculates the optimal pricing strategy of grid corporation and the energy supplier, and analyzes the influence of relevant factors on optimal subsidy and incentive. The study reveals that the cost and social benefit of micro-grid development have a positive impact on micro-grid subsidy, technical level and equipment quality of equipment supplier as well as the fact that government subsidies positively adjust the level of cooperation incentives and price incentives. In the end, the validity of the model is verified by numerical analysis, and the incentive strategy of each participant is analyzed. The research of this paper is of great significance to encourage project development of micro-grids and to promote the sustainable development of micro-grids.

School-based interventions for preventing HIV, sexually transmitted infections, and pregnancy in adolescents.

Science.gov (United States)

Mason-Jones, Amanda J; Sinclair, David; Mathews, Catherine; Kagee, Ashraf; Hillman, Alex; Lombard, Carl

2016-11-08

participants received both uniforms and a programme of sexual and reproductive education. In this trial arm herpes simplex virus infection was reduced (RR 0.82, 95% CI 0.68 to 0.99; one trial, 5899 participants; low certainty evidence), predominantly in young women, but no effect was detected for HIV or pregnancy (low certainty evidence). There is a continued need to provide health services to adolescents that include contraceptive choices and condoms and that involve them in the design of services. Schools may be a good place in which to provide these services. There is little evidence that educational curriculum-based programmes alone are effective in improving sexual and reproductive health outcomes for adolescents. Incentive-based interventions that focus on keeping young people in secondary school may reduce adolescent pregnancy but further trials are needed to confirm this.

Medical students' choice of specialty and factors determining their choice: a cross-sectional survey at the Addis Ababa University, School oF Medicine, Ethiopia.

Science.gov (United States)

Seyoum, Nebyou; Biluts, Hagos; Bekele, Abebe; Seme, Assefa

2014-07-01

A consideration of the future specialization interests of undergraduate medical students might help in understanding the needs of higher medical education and future manpower availability for healthcare in a country. This study assessed the career of choice made by medical students of the Addis Ababa University in the year 2012. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 161 medical students of the Addis Ababa University, School of Medicine, Ethiopia in April 2012 using a self-administered questionnaire. Data were analyzed using computer based statistical software IBM SPSS data editor version 20.0. In addition to descriptive statistics difference in proportions was compared using Chi-square test Of the 161 students, 101 (62.7%) were male. The mean age of respondents was 24.1 years (SD 2.02, ranging from 21 to 35). Majority, 138 (85.7) wanted to pursue their specialty training in the near future, their first career of choice being surgery for, 50 (31.1%), followed by internal medicine for, 44 (27.3%) and Obstetrics and Gynaecology for, 29 (18.0%]), However 18 (11.2%) did not specify their career of choice. The basic science fields such as anesthesiology, and oncology were the least favored choices by the students. The main reasons that influenced the students' decisions to opt for a particular specialty were inspiration during their clinical practicein 67 (41.6%). Financial reward (24.2%), dedication to the field (19.2%) possession of competency needed for the speciality (18.6%) and Influence of teacher (16.1%) were also factors that influenced future choice of speciality of the students. The majority of medical students preferred to pursue their specialty training. As the number and interest in certain specialties is huge, training centers must be ready to cater for the interests shown by the students. The lack of interest towards certain specialists such as basic sciences, anesthesiology, and oncology requires a special attention by policy makers.

The incentive sensitization theory of addiction: some current issues

OpenAIRE

Robinson, Terry E; Berridge, Kent C

2008-01-01

We present a brief overview of the incentive sensitization theory of addiction. This posits that addiction is caused primarily by drug-induced sensitization in the brain mesocorticolimbic systems that attribute incentive salience to reward-associated stimuli. If rendered hypersensitive, these systems cause pathological incentive motivation (‘wanting’) for drugs. We address some current questions including: what is the role of learning in incentive sensitization and addiction? Does incentive s...

State School Finance System Variance Impacts on Student Achievement: Inadequacies in School Funding

Science.gov (United States)