ECONOMICS (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -Incentives are the rewards or punishments that shape people’s choices. Incentives can be either monetary or non-monetary. When opportunity costs change, incentives change, and people’s choices and behavior change. Changes in incentives cause people to change their behavior in predictable ways.

Detailed explanation-2: -Monetary incentives have two kinds of effects: the standard direct price effect, which makes the incentivized behavior more attractive, and an indirect psychological effect. In some cases, the psychological effect works in an opposite direction to the price effect and can crowd out the incentivized behavior.

Detailed explanation-3: -Responses to incentives are predictable because people usually pursue their self-interest. Changes in incentives cause people to change their behavior in predictable ways. Incentives can be monetary or non-monetary.

Detailed explanation-4: -Incentives are benefits or costs of an action that influence people’s decisions and behavior. Stated another way, incentives can make people do something they wouldn’t otherwise do. Incentives are important to economics for two reasons: how people respond to them and how they are created and used.

Detailed explanation-5: -An incentive is something that induces a person to act, such as the prospect of a punishment or a reward. Because rational people make decisions by comparing costs and benefits, they respond to incentives. You will see that incentives play a central role in the study of economics.