Link: http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2010/08/20/129328075/the-tuesday-podcast-allowance-economics
Summary: Interview with Economist Joshua Gans, author of Parentonomics, on the use of incentives for children and the lessons for economic policy
Original air date: August 20, 2010
Length: 18:09
Main story content begins: 2:42
Discussion Prompt: Why do you think it was difficult at first to determine the right reward to give to provide an incentive for the kids to use the potty? How do you think this discussion of incentives helps us understand the economic idea that “incentives and economic systems impact choice in predictable ways”?
Follow-up Prompt: The podcast also talked about the idea of ‘budget constraint’ through Bea’s allowance and about the concept of ‘leakage’ in an economic system. What do budget constraint and linkage mean and how are they demonstrated here? How do they help us understand the behavior of the children in this podcast? Can you think of any other examples of leakage associated with incentives, perhaps at the government level?
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