Alcohol and Self-Control: A Field Experiment in India
Author(s)
Schilbach, Frank
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This paper studies alcohol consumption among low-income workers in India. In a 3-week field experiment, the majority of 229 cycle-rickshaw drivers were willing to forgo substantial monetary payments in order to set incentives for themselves to remain sober, thus exhibiting demand for commitment to sobriety. Randomly receiving sobriety incentives significantly reduced daytime drinking while leaving overall drinking unchanged. I find no evidence of higher daytime sobriety significantly changing labor supply, productivity, or earnings. In contrast, increasing sobriety raised savings by 50 percent, an effect that does not appear to be solely explained by changes in income net of alcohol expenditures.
Date issued
2019-04Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Economics; Sloan School of ManagementJournal
American Economic Review
Publisher
American Economic Association
Citation
Schilbach, Frank et al. "Alcohol and Self-Control: A Field Experiment in India." American Economic Association 109, 4 (April 2019): 1290-1322 © 2019 American Economic Association
Version: Final published version
ISSN
0002-8282
Keywords
Economics and Econometrics