Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • January 2022
  • Article
  • American Economic Journal: Applied Economics

Rational Habit Formation: Experimental Evidence from Handwashing in India

By: Reshmaan Hussam, Atonu Rabbani, Giovanni Reggiani and Natalia Rigol
  • Format:Print
  • | Pages:41
ShareBar

Abstract

We test the predictions of the rational addiction model, reconceptualized as rational habit formation, in the context of handwashing in rural India. To track handwashing, we design soap dispensers with timed sensors. We test for rational habit formation by informing some households about a future change in the returns to daily handwashing. Monitoring and incentives raise handwashing contemporaneously, and effects persist well after they end. In addition, people are rational about this habit formation: when they anticipate future monitoring, they increase their current handwashing. Average child weight and height increase for all study arms given soap dispensers.

Keywords

Handwashing; Habit; Monitoring; Behavior; Health; Motivation and Incentives

Citation

Hussam, Reshmaan, Atonu Rabbani, Giovanni Reggiani, and Natalia Rigol. "Rational Habit Formation: Experimental Evidence from Handwashing in India." American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 14, no. 1 (January 2022): 1–41. (Lead Article.)

Supplemental Information

Online Data and Code
  • Find it at Harvard
  • Read Now

About The Authors

Reshmaan N. Hussam

Business, Government and the International Economy
→More Publications

Natalia Rigol

Entrepreneurial Management
→More Publications

More from the Authors

    • March 2025
    • Faculty Research

    GiveDirectly: Can Direct Cash Transfers End Extreme Poverty?

    By: Natalia Rigol, Benjamin N. Roth, Sarah Mehta and John Schultz
    • December 2024
    • Faculty Research

    Core Innovation Capital: Investing in Fintech for Good (B)

    By: Ray Kluender, Natalia Rigol, Benjamin Roth and Nicole Tempest Keller
    • December 2024
    • Faculty Research

    Core Innovation Capital: Investing in Fintech for Good

    By: Ray Kluender, Natalia Rigol, Benjamin Roth and Nicole Tempest Keller
More from the Authors
  • GiveDirectly: Can Direct Cash Transfers End Extreme Poverty? By: Natalia Rigol, Benjamin N. Roth, Sarah Mehta and John Schultz
  • Core Innovation Capital: Investing in Fintech for Good (B) By: Ray Kluender, Natalia Rigol, Benjamin Roth and Nicole Tempest Keller
  • Core Innovation Capital: Investing in Fintech for Good By: Ray Kluender, Natalia Rigol, Benjamin Roth and Nicole Tempest Keller
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College.