Economics professors Ellen Magenheim and Erin Todd Bronchetti found in a 2015 study that paying $30 to college students to take the flu vaccine almost doubled vaccination rates. With the release of the first COVID-19 vaccine in December 2020, and as state and federal governments began vaccination efforts, Bronchetti and Magenheim promoted their research findings advocating the benefits of financial compensation.

“Endorsements of the vaccine from political leaders and trusted sources may help counteract concerns about its safety or any additional distrust people may feel because they are being paid to get it,” Bronchetti and Magenheim wrote in January in The Philadelphia Inquirer. “The right solution is likely to be a both/and approach. But the bottom line, at least according to our own work, is that the best way to give a shot in the arm to vaccination efforts is by putting cash in the pocket.”

Below is a collection of Bronchetti and Magenheim's recent press coverage related to vaccine promotion and economic stimulus:

Should the government pay people to take the COVID-19 vaccine? | Pro/Con: In The Philadelphia Inquirer, Bronchetti and Magenheim argued for a substantial payment for people who take the vaccine to encourage participation and compliance in obtaining subsequent doses.

From Pfizer to Phi Beta Kappa: Getting Campuses Vaccinated: With Benjamin Bohman ’22, Alfred Seivold ’22, and Keyan Shayegan ’22, Bronchetti and Magenheim suggested  in Inside Higher Ed that colleges consider using financial incentives to encourage vaccination among their students.

The Chicago Tribune and The Huffington Post spoke with Magenheim about why several health care companies have begun paying their employees to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

Philadelphians need third-round stimulus payments to be issued smoothly this time | Opinion: Bronchetti and Magenheim, aware of the more than 10 million Americans receiving unemployment benefits, and more keenly aware of the nearly 10% of Philadelphia-area households without enough food to eat, argued in The Philadelphia Inquirer  for more efficiently delivered third-round stimulus payments.