{"id":52,"date":"2014-08-25T12:00:16","date_gmt":"2014-08-25T18:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wildfireresearch.wordpress.com\/?p=52"},"modified":"2024-01-19T10:35:15","modified_gmt":"2024-01-19T17:35:15","slug":"is-there-a-difference-between-a-barrier-and-an-incentive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wildfireresearchcenter.org\/is-there-a-difference-between-a-barrier-and-an-incentive\/","title":{"rendered":"Is there a difference between a barrier and an incentive?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Economists talk a lot about <em>incentives<\/em>: things that encourage people to make a decision one way or another. For example, a tax refund like the one Colorado offers could be thought of as an incentive that favors doing wildfire mitigation on your property.<br \/>\nStandard (neoclassical) theory suggests that it doesn&#8217;t matter whether an incentive reduces a cost or adds a benefit, if the two are the same size;\u00a0both would be a &#8220;plus&#8221; on the side of the decision being encouraged. However, in one western Colorado community, a lot more people said yes to our survey questions asking what would encourage them to do mitigation (incentives such as financial assistance, specific information, or help doing the work) than to questions asking whether similar things are barriers keeping\u00a0them from doing mitigation.<br \/>\nThis finding\u00a0suggests that offering something to people, such as financial help or information, can influence people even if they don&#8217;t feel held back by that thing (e.g., that mitigation is too expensive for them to do), which is consistent with the theory. But it also tells us that people see incentives and barriers\u00a0differently and suggests, in the spirit of recent behavioral economics findings, that describing something as an incentive (a &#8220;bonus&#8221; or a &#8220;thank you gift&#8221; perhaps?) might nudge more people toward accepting it than describing that same thing\u00a0as something that helps overcome a barrier (such as a &#8220;rebate&#8221; or &#8220;financial\u00a0assistance&#8221;).<br \/>\nSource: data reported in\u00a0Meldrum, Barth, Falk, Brenkert-Smith, Warziniack, and\u00a0Champ\u00a0(2013). <a href=\"https:\/\/wildfireresearchcenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/rmrs_rn066.pdf\">Living with wildfire in Log Hill Mesa, Colorado<\/a><i>. <\/i>Res. Note RMRS-RN-66. Fort Collins, CO: US Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 34 p.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Economists talk a lot about incentives: things that encourage people to make a decision one way or another. For example, a tax refund like the one Colorado offers could be thought of as an incentive that favors doing wildfire mitigation on your property. Standard (neoclassical) theory suggests that it doesn&#8217;t matter whether an incentive reduces [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[16,6,17,18,19,20],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Is there a difference between a barrier and an incentive? - Wildfire Research Center<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/wildfireresearchcenter.org\/is-there-a-difference-between-a-barrier-and-an-incentive\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Is there a difference between a barrier and an incentive? - Wildfire Research Center\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Economists talk a lot about incentives: things that encourage people to make a decision one way or another. For example, a tax refund like the one Colorado offers could be thought of as an incentive that favors doing wildfire mitigation on your property. Standard (neoclassical) theory suggests that it doesn&#8217;t matter whether an incentive reduces [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/wildfireresearchcenter.org\/is-there-a-difference-between-a-barrier-and-an-incentive\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Wildfire Research Center\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-08-25T18:00:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-01-19T17:35:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Natalie Osborne\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Natalie Osborne\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wildfireresearchcenter.org\/is-there-a-difference-between-a-barrier-and-an-incentive\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/wildfireresearchcenter.org\/is-there-a-difference-between-a-barrier-and-an-incentive\/\",\"name\":\"Is there a difference between a barrier and an incentive? - Wildfire Research Center\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wildfireresearchcenter.org\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-08-25T18:00:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-01-19T17:35:15+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wildfireresearchcenter.org\/#\/schema\/person\/5330792da39ee23d5efb92928f51d258\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wildfireresearchcenter.org\/is-there-a-difference-between-a-barrier-and-an-incentive\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/wildfireresearchcenter.org\/is-there-a-difference-between-a-barrier-and-an-incentive\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wildfireresearchcenter.org\/is-there-a-difference-between-a-barrier-and-an-incentive\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/wildfireresearchcenter.org\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Is there a difference between a barrier and an incentive?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wildfireresearchcenter.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/wildfireresearchcenter.org\/\",\"name\":\"Wildfire Research Center\",\"description\":\"An interdisciplinary collaboration on community adaptedness to wildland fire\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/wildfireresearchcenter.org\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wildfireresearchcenter.org\/#\/schema\/person\/5330792da39ee23d5efb92928f51d258\",\"name\":\"Natalie Osborne\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wildfireresearchcenter.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/37f48ca76aa3b8d95e49e92dc162bb4f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/37f48ca76aa3b8d95e49e92dc162bb4f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Natalie Osborne\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/wildfireresearchcenter.org\/author\/spinup\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Is there a difference between a barrier and an incentive? - Wildfire Research Center","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/wildfireresearchcenter.org\/is-there-a-difference-between-a-barrier-and-an-incentive\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Is there a difference between a barrier and an incentive? - Wildfire Research Center","og_description":"Economists talk a lot about incentives: things that encourage people to make a decision one way or another. For example, a tax refund like the one Colorado offers could be thought of as an incentive that favors doing wildfire mitigation on your property. Standard (neoclassical) theory suggests that it doesn&#8217;t matter whether an incentive reduces [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/wildfireresearchcenter.org\/is-there-a-difference-between-a-barrier-and-an-incentive\/","og_site_name":"Wildfire Research Center","article_published_time":"2014-08-25T18:00:16+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-01-19T17:35:15+00:00","author":"Natalie Osborne","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Natalie Osborne","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/wildfireresearchcenter.org\/is-there-a-difference-between-a-barrier-and-an-incentive\/","url":"https:\/\/wildfireresearchcenter.org\/is-there-a-difference-between-a-barrier-and-an-incentive\/","name":"Is there a difference between a barrier and an incentive? - Wildfire Research Center","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/wildfireresearchcenter.org\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-08-25T18:00:16+00:00","dateModified":"2024-01-19T17:35:15+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/wildfireresearchcenter.org\/#\/schema\/person\/5330792da39ee23d5efb92928f51d258"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/wildfireresearchcenter.org\/is-there-a-difference-between-a-barrier-and-an-incentive\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/wildfireresearchcenter.org\/is-there-a-difference-between-a-barrier-and-an-incentive\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/wildfireresearchcenter.org\/is-there-a-difference-between-a-barrier-and-an-incentive\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/wildfireresearchcenter.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Is there a difference between a barrier and an incentive?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/wildfireresearchcenter.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/wildfireresearchcenter.org\/","name":"Wildfire Research Center","description":"An interdisciplinary collaboration on community adaptedness to wildland fire","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/wildfireresearchcenter.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/wildfireresearchcenter.org\/#\/schema\/person\/5330792da39ee23d5efb92928f51d258","name":"Natalie Osborne","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/wildfireresearchcenter.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/37f48ca76aa3b8d95e49e92dc162bb4f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/37f48ca76aa3b8d95e49e92dc162bb4f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Natalie Osborne"},"url":"https:\/\/wildfireresearchcenter.org\/author\/spinup\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildfireresearchcenter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildfireresearchcenter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildfireresearchcenter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildfireresearchcenter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildfireresearchcenter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wildfireresearchcenter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4708,"href":"https:\/\/wildfireresearchcenter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52\/revisions\/4708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildfireresearchcenter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildfireresearchcenter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildfireresearchcenter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}