eprintid: 16599
rev_number: 15
eprint_status: archive
userid: 2744
dir: disk0/00/01/65/99
datestamp: 2014-03-21 14:39:10
lastmod: 2015-04-25 06:10:27
status_changed: 2014-03-21 14:39:10
type: workingPaper
metadata_visibility: show
creators_name: Schnedler, Wendelin 
creators_name: Vanberg, Christoph
title: Playing 'Hard to Get': An Economic Rationale for Crowding Out of Intrinsically Motivated Behavior 
subjects: ddc-330
divisions: i-181000
keywords: intrinsic motivation, crowding out, behavioral economics,
market power, hidden information
abstract: Anecdotal, empirical, and experimental evidence suggests that offering extrinsic rewards for certain activities can reduce people's willingness to engage in those activities voluntarily. We propose a simple rationale for this 'crowding out' phenomenon, using standard economic arguments. The central idea is that the potential to earn rewards in return for an activity may create incentives to play 'hard to get' in an effort to increase those rewards. We discuss two specic contexts in which such incentives arise. In the first, refraining from the activity causes others to attach higher value to it because it becomes scarce. In the second, restraint serves to conceal the actor's intrinsic motivation. In both cases, not engaging in the activity causes others to offer larger rewards. Our theory yields the testable prediction that such effects are likely to occur when a motivated actor enjoys a sufficient degree of 'market power.'
date: 2014-03
id_scheme: DOI
id_number: 10.11588/heidok.00016599
schriftenreihe_cluster_id: sr-3
schriftenreihe_order: 0559
ppn_swb: 165447407X
own_urn: urn:nbn:de:bsz:16-heidok-165993
language: eng
bibsort: SCHNEDLERWPLAYINGHAR201403
full_text_status: public
series: Discussion Paper Series / University of Heidelberg, Department of Economics
volume: 0559
pages: 23
citation:   Schnedler, Wendelin  ; Vanberg, Christoph  (2014) Playing 'Hard to Get': An Economic Rationale for Crowding Out of Intrinsically Motivated Behavior.  [Working paper]     
document_url: https://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/volltextserver/16599/1/Schnedler_Vanberg_2014_dp559.pdf