Professor Theresa Marteau: Centre for the Study of Incentives in Health
Funded by a Strategic Award in Biomedical Ethics
Governments increasingly use financial and 'payment in kind' incentives to encourage people to act in individually and socially beneficial ways, particularly in the context of health policy. Yet even when effective in changing behaviour, such approaches have attracted strong criticism for being coercive and undermining autonomy, personal responsibility and equity.
The integrated programme of research at the Centre for the Study of Incentives in Health (CSI Health) will examine these criticisms from the perspectives of philosophy, psychology and economics, in order to address the central question: when is it right to use financial incentives to improve health?
Goals
- To conduct a programme of research, starting from four case examples of current uses of financial incentives in the UK, that combines philosophy, psychology and economics in the analysis of the relationship between financial incentives, coercion, equity, autonomy and behaviour in order to evaluate the acceptability and effectiveness of financial incentives to improve population health.
- To train postdoctoral fellows and PhD students, with the aim of creating a cadre of interdisciplinary specialists to undertake innovative, substantive research and advise policy makers.
CSI Health is a collaboration between King's College London, Queen Mary, University of London and the London School of Economics.
