No margin, no mission? A field experiment on incentives for public service delivery

Abstract

The public sector provides several inputs to economic growth and their effectiveness ultimately relies on the effort and skills of the agents hired to deliver them. How can the State use incentives to recruit, motivate and retain talented agents? Do material incentives attract talent or do they discourage altruism? Do material incentives motivate agents to perform better or do they crowd-out their intrinsic motivation and reduce performance? This lecture provides some answers from recent field experiments.