Motivation intrinsèque, incitations et normes sociales

This lecture, delivered by Jean Tirole at the 2008 afse Congress and based on joint work with Roland Bénabou, revisits the old debate on the effectiveness of incentives, focusing on how the latter impact the perception and meaning of acts. It explains how a principal?s organizational choices can affect an agent?s intrinsic motivation, and how material incentives for, and publicity attached to prosocial acts change the meaning of behavior. Finally, it discusses social norms and how the latter can be altered by the law. Classification JEL : D11, D64, D82, Z13.