Christoph M. Schmidt Do Financial Incentives Help Obese People to Achieve and to Maintain a Target Weight?
Christoph M. Schmidt is the Director of the RWI Essen and chair of the German Council of Economic Experts. Since 2013 he has been the chair of the board of trustees of the Max Planck Institute for Tax Law and Public Finance, Munich. Schmidt has been highly influential in the field of applied economics and economic policy, particularly concerning the topic of health within these fields. In his current research, Schmidt investigates the effects of financial incentives on tackling obesity and reaching target weights.
Area of Research
Applied Econometrics, Economic Policy, Macroeconomics, Energy, Health and Labor
since 2013
Chair
The German Council of Economic Experts
since 2009
Member
The German Council of Economic Experts
since 2002
President
RWI – Leibniz Institute for Economic Research (more details)
since 2002
Professor of Economics and Econometrics
Ruhr University Bochum (Ruhr-Universität Bochum)
1999-2002
Program Director "Evaluation of Labor Market Policies and Projects"
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
1995-2002
Professor of Economics and Econometrics
Heidelberg University (Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg)
Alfred Weber Institut (AWI)
1991-1995
Research Associate
Ludwig Maximilian University Munich (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München)
Seminar for Labor and Population Economics (SELAPO)
1995
Habilitation (Dr. rer. pol. habil.)
Ludwig Maximilian University Munich (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München)
1991
PhD in Economics
Princeton University
1989
Master in Economics
Princeton University
1987
Diploma in Economics
University of Mannheim (Universität Mannheim)
- American Economic Association (AEA)
- Deutsche Statistische Gesellschaft
- Econometric Society
- European Economic Association
- European Society for Population Economics
- Royal Economic Society
- Society of Labour Economists
- Verein für Socialpolitik
Fellowships
- Member of the Board of Trustees of the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach-Stiftung (since 2014)
- Member of the Executive Board of the National Academy of Science and Engineering (since 2014)
- Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Max-Planck-Institute for Tax Law and Public Finance (since 2013)
- Chair of Working Group "Ökonomie und Innovationsforschung" of the National Academy of Science and Engineering (since 2013)
- Member of the Executive Council of the Verein für Socialpolitik (2011-2014)
- Member of the Enquete-Commission "Wachstum, Wohlstand, Lebensqualität" (2011-2013)
- Member of the Expert Dialogue of the Chancellor about Germany's Future (2011-2012)
- Member of the National Academy of Science and Engineering (since 2011)
- Member of the Supervisory Board of the Brost Foundation (since 2011)
- Member of the "Aktionsrat Marktwirtschaft", Vereinigung der Bayerischen Wirtschaft e.V. (2010-2012)
- Member of the Board of Trustees of the "Stiftung Essen. Großstadt für Kinder", Essen (since 2006)
- President of the European Society for Population Economics ESPE (2005)
- Research Fellow, IZA, Bonn (since 1998)
- Research Fellow, Labour Economics Programme, Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), London (since 1996)
- Habilitation Fellowship, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) (1992-1995)
- Alfred P. Sloan Dissertation Fellowship (1990-1991)
- Princeton University Fellowship (1987-1990)
- Olin Graduate Summer Fellowship (1989)
- Fulbright Scholarship (1987-1988)
© Leibniz Institute for Economic Research
RWI – Leibniz Institute for Economic Research
RWI - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research (formerly Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung) is a leading centre for economic research and evidence-based policy advice in Germany. Through its research work, RWI provides information on economic developments and their underlying catalysts, assists economic policy decision-making and fosters economic literacy among the wider public. The research work of RWI – based on latest theoretical concepts and advanced empirical methods – ranges from the individual to the world economy and is structured along four “competence areas”: “Labor Markets, Education, Population”, “Health Economics”, “Environment and Resources” and “Macroeconomics and Public Finance”.
The Institute’s claim “research with impact” illustrates its high scientific demand and is to be understood in a threefold sense: virtually all projects at RWI are of practical relevance and, thus, possess a high degree of potential policy impact. Second, the applied research at RWI fulfills highest academic standards and results are regularly published in renowned academic journals (i.e. with a high “impact factor”). Third, “impact evaluation” is a trans-divisional core competency of RWI and, therefore, often the central challenge in a large number of studies, evaluations and policy projects. (Source: RWI)
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By means of a field experiment, the research presented in this video tested the effects of financial incentives on the dieting behavior of obese people. As CHRISTOPH M. SCHMIDT explains, patients leaving rehabilitation clinics have been selected for the study and were given different treatments to help them achieve their target weight. It shows that those patients who received a financial incentive were more successful in sustaining healthy behavior in the short term, with the effect weakening over time. These insights contribute to the question of the role financial incentives can play in encouraging healthy behavior.
LT Video Publication DOI: https://doi.org/10.21036/LTPUB10174
Small Cash Rewards for Big Losers – Experimental Insights Into the Fight Against the Obesity Epidemic
- Boris Augurzky, Thomas K. Bauer, Arndt R. Reichert, Christoph M. Schmidt and Harald Tauchmann
- Ruhr Economic Papers
- Published in 2014
