Incentivos conductuales:: aprendizajes del sector privado para su aplicación en políticas públicas

• Antonio M. Espín ^[1] ; Juan de Rus Gutiérrez ^[2]
  1. [1] Universidad de Granada

     Universidad de Granada

     Granada, España

     
  2. [2] Universidad Carlos III de Madrid

     Universidad Carlos III de Madrid

     Madrid, España

     
• Localización: Información Comercial Española, ICE: Revista de economía, ISSN 0019-977X, ISSN-e 2340-8790, Nº 940, 2025 (Ejemplar dedicado a: Economía del comportamiento para mejorar las políticas públicas I. Los fundamentos), págs. 87-99
• Idioma: español
• DOI: 10.32796/ice.2025.940.7945
• Títulos paralelos:
  • Behavioral Incentives: Lessons from the Private Sector for Their Application in Public Policy
• Enlaces
  • Texto completo
• Resumen
  • español

    Este artículo tiene como finalidad revisar los fundamentos teóricos de los incentivos conductuales (aquellos que apelan a factores psicológicos, sociales y contextuales para influir sobre el comportamiento humano), presentando ejemplos del sector privado que pueden arrojar luz sobre el diseño de políticas de incentivos en el sector público. Para ello, se analizan diversos casos de uso de empresas privadas, con un foco en España, a fin de identificar variables que, a nuestro entender, dibujan el futuro del diseño de incentivos y tienen especial interés para la cosa pública. De este análisis, se desprende que la personalización de incentivos, atendiendo a preferencias y motivaciones individuales, es clave para el éxito de los mismos

  • English

    This article aims to review the theoretical foundations of behavioral incentives (those that appeal to psychological, social, and contextual factors to influence human behavior), presenting examples from the private sector that may shed light on the design of incentive policies in the public sector. To this end, various use cases from private companies are analyzed, with a focus on Spain, in order to identify variables that, in our view, shape the future of incentive design and are of particular interest to public affairs. From this analysis, it emerges that the personalization of incentives, taking into account individual preferences and motivations, is key to their success

• Referencias bibliográficas
  • Allcott, H., Cohen, D., Morrison, W., & Taubinsky, D. (2022). When do “nudges” increase welfare? (NBER Working Paper No. 30740). National...
  • Allcott, H., & Rogers, T. (2014). The short-run and long-run effects of behavioral interventions: Experimental evidence from energy conservation....
  • Andreoni, J., Callen, M., Hussain, K., Khan, M. Y., & Sprenger, C. (2023). Using preference estimates to customize incentives: An application...
  • Bandiera, O., Barankay, I., & Rasul, I. (2005). Social preferences and the response to incentives: Evidence from personnel data. The Quarterly...
  • Bénabou, R., & Tirole, J. (2006). Incentives and prosocial behavior. American Economic Review, 96(5), 1652-1678.
  • Bowles, S., & Polanía-Reyes, S. (2012). Economic incentives and social preferences: Substitutes or complements? Journal of Economic Literature,...
  • Bruers, S. (2024). Review of behavioral economics models of the altruistic crowding-out effect from monetary incentives. Journal of Economic...
  • Cialdini, R. B., Reno, R. R., & Kallgren, C. A. (1990). A focus theory of normative conduct: Recycling the concept of norms to reduce...
  • De Rus, J. (2022). Behavioral incentives and their influence on employee performance. In A. Samson (Ed.), The Behavioral Economics Guide 2022...
  • Delfgaauw, J., Dur, R., Onemu, O., & Sol, J. (2022). Team incentives, social cohesion, and performance: A natural field experiment. Management...
  • Espín, A. M. (2025). Employee assessments using behavioural economic games. In S.-H. Chuah, R. Hoffmann & A. Neelim (Eds.), Elgar Encyclopedia...
  • Espín, A. M. y Martín, J. (2024). Gestión de recursos humanos. En M.ª P. Espinosa y P. Brañas-Garza (Coords.), Métodos experimentales en economía...
  • Espín, A. M., Reyes, F., Pascual-Ezama, D., & MartínezBrocal, J. (2019). Behavioral assessments applications agile teamwork: A case study....
  • Espín, A. M., Reyes-Pereira, F., & Ciria, L. F. (2017). Organizations should know their people: A behavioral economics approach. Journal...
  • Fehr, E., & Fischbacher, U. (2002). Why social preferences matter: The impact of non-selfish motives on competition, cooperation and incentives....
  • Fehr, E., & Gächter, S. (2000). Fairness and retaliation: The economics of reciprocity. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 14(3), 159-182.
  • Fehr, E., & Schmidt, K. M. (1999). A theory of fairness, competition, and cooperation. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 114(3), 817-868.
  • Festinger, L. (1954). A theory of social comparison processes. Human Relations, 7(2), 117-140.
  • Frey, B. S., & Jegen, R. (2001). Motivation crowding theory. Journal of Economic Surveys, 15(5), 589-611.
  • Gibbons, R. (1998). Incentives in organizations. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 12(4), 115-132.
  • Gneezy, U., Meier, S., & Rey-Biel, P. (2011). When and why incentives (don’t) work to modify behavior. Journal of Economic Perspectives,...
  • Gneezy, U., & Rustichini, A. (2000). A fine is a price. The Journal of Legal Studies, 29(1), 1-17.
  • Kahn, L. M., & Offstein, P. (1999). Performance measurement and the ratchet effect in a complex organization. Journal of Public Administration...
  • Kahneman, D., & Tversky, A. (1979). Prospect theory: An analysis of decision under risk. Econometrica, 47(2), 263- 291.
  • Laibson, D. (1997). Golden eggs and hyperbolic discounting. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 112(2), 443-478.
  • Lazear, E. P. (2000). Performance pay and productivity. American Economic Review, 90(5), 1346-1361.
  • Lepper, M. R., Greene, D., & Nisbett, R. E. (1973). Undermining children’s intrinsic interest with extrinsic rewards: A test of the “overjustification”...
  • Mellström, C., & Johannesson, M. (2008). Crowding out in blood donation: Was titmuss right? Journal of the European Economic Association,...
  • Milkman, K. L., Patel, M. S., Gandhi, L., Graci, H. N., Gromet, D. M., Ho, H., Kay, J. S., Lee, T. W., Akinola, M., Beshears, J., Bogard,...
  • Mills, S. (2022). Personalized nudging. Behavioural Public Policy, 6(1), 150-159.
  • Ministerio del Comportamiento. (26 de mayo de 2024). España ha avanzado mucho en la aplicación de Behavioral Economics en la empresa privada,...
  • Perry, J. L., Hondeghem, A., & Wise, L. R. (2010). Revisiting the motivational bases of public service: Twenty years of research and an...
  • Rey-Biel, P. (2008). Inequity aversion and team incentives. Scandinavian Journal of Economics, 110(2), 297-320.
  • Sánchez-Silva, C. (23 de junio de 2019). La desigualdad laboral empieza por las ofertas de trabajo que intimidan a las mujeres. El País. https://elpais.com/economia/2019/06/19/...
  • Schultz, P. W., Tabanico, J. J., & Rendón, T. (2008). Normative beliefs as agents of influence: Basic processes and realworld applications....
  • Shurchkov, O., & Eckel, C. C. (2018). Gender differences in behavioral traits and labor market outcomes. In S. L. Averett, L. M. Argys...
  • Siebert, H. (2001). Der Kobra-Effekt: Wie man Irrwege der Wirtschaftspolitik vermeidet. Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt.
  • Spark Wave. (n.d.). Ten conditions for change: A framework for creating positive behaviors. https://www.sparkwave.tech/ conditions-for-change
  • Sunstein, C. R. (2024). Choice engines and paternalistic AI. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 11(1), 1-4.
  • Thaler, R. H., & Benartzi, S. (2004). Save more tomorrow™: Using behavioral economics to increase employee saving. Journal of Political...
  • Thaler, R. H., & Sunstein, C. R. (2008). Nudge: Improving decisions about health, wealth and happiness. In Amsterdam Law Forum; HeinOnline:...
  • Tversky, A., & Kahneman, D. (1974). Judgment under uncertainty: Heuristics and biases: Biases in judgments reveal some heuristics of thinking...
  • Weinstein, N. D. (1980). Unrealistic optimism about future life events. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 39(5), 806-820.
  • Yeung, K. (2019). ‘Hypernudge’: Big data as a mode of regulation by design. In D. Beer (Ed.), The social power of algorithms (pp. 118-136)....