How can we design incentive programmes that deliver the right outcomes and avoid the wrong ones? We're all familiar with teh idea of rewards to encourage good behaviour and punishment to deter bad behaviour. Incentive programmes are common because they're effective. But they often come with unintended consequences.

On this episode, I'm speaking to a former colleague of mine, Bruce Rigal. He began his career in Investment Banking — where we worked together — before, like me, moving into Behavioural Science. As part of his role in banking, Bruce was responsible for the development of an incentive program within a bank, making him the ideal person to talk to about the challenges of developing ones that will deliver the right outcomes.

In our discussion, we talk about:

Professor Elke Weber: https://psych.princeton.edu/people/elke-weber

Professor Sam Peltzman: https://www.chicagobooth.edu/faculty/emeriti/sam-peltzman

The Peltzman Effect: https://tradestops.com/blog/the-peltzman-effect-how-safety-perception-increases-risk/

(Original paper here:https://www.jstor.org/stable/1830396)

The impact of rewards on intrinsic motivation in children: https://bingschool.stanford.edu/news/mark-lepper-intrinsic-motivation-extrinsic-motivation-and-process-learning

To connect with Bruce: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bruce-rigal-6799a545/

For more on my book 'Humanizing Rules: Bringing Behavioural Science to Ethics & Compliance' and to read the first few chapters for free: www.humanizingrules.com