Skip to main content
  • Experts
  • Events
  • Briefing Book
  • Resources
  • About
  • Contact
  • Support
  • Fiscal Facts
Twitter
Facebook
Logo Site
  • Topics
    • Individual Taxes
    • Business Taxes
    • Federal Budget and Economy
    • State and Local Issues
    • Campaigns, Proposals, and Reforms
  • TaxVox Blog
  • Research & Commentary
  • Laws & Proposals
  • Model Estimates
  • Statistics
  • Features
Research report

Do Incentives Affect Behavior? Would an Economist Know?

C. Eugene Steuerle
April 3, 2006
Download PDFPrint
Share

Primary tasks

  • Overview(active tab)
  • Full Report

Abstract

In recent decades, economists have acquired great weight in debates over incentives. When it comes to examining the effect of policy incentives on behavior, the theory is relatively straightforward. However, many factors, especially non-financial, have been ignored for sometimes very legitimate reasons. Still, I have long believed that the failure to take into account other psychological and sociological motives for behavior, as well as the effect of complexity on the behavior that results, is a fundamental source of error in much of the economics literature. At the same time, I have come to believe in the great power of some incentives even if they cant be measured well. As for how much incentives change behavior, that is less clear to me.

Research Area

Federal Budget and Economy
To reuse content from the Tax Policy Center, visit copyright.com, search for the publications, choose from a list of licenses, and complete the transaction.

Meet the Experts

  • C. Eugene Steuerle
    Institute Fellow and Richard B. Fisher Chair
Research report

New Evidence on The Effect of The TCJA On the Housing Market

Robert McClelland, Livia Mucciolo, Safia Sayed
March 30, 2022
  • Donate Today
  • Topics
  • TaxVox Blog
  • Research & Commentary
  • Laws & Proposals
  • Model Estimates
  • Statistics
  • Privacy Policy
  • Newsletters
Twitter
Facebook
  • © Urban Institute, Brookings Institution, and individual authors, 2022.