Project: Financial Incentives to Promote Preventive Behaviors: Analysis of Effective Programs, Equity, Acceptability, and Ethical Considerations
Professor Florence Jusot is a 2025–26 French Harkness Fellow in Health Care Policy and Practice. She is professor of economics at Paris-Dauphine University, France, a research fellow at LEDA, and an associate researcher at the Institute for Research and Information in Health Economics. Jusot currently serves as president of the French Health Economics Association and has previously been a member of the executive committee of the European Health Economics Association and the board of the International Health Economics Association.
Jusot is the country team leader of SHARE France and a member of the SHARE Management Board, serving as Area Coordinator for the Health Care module of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). During the COVID-19 pandemic, she was a member of the Strategic Advisory Board for COVID-19 Vaccination. She also served on the French National Consultative Ethics Committee from 2017 to 2025 and was a member of the French National AIDS and Viral Hepatitis Council from 2023 to 2024.
Jusot’s research focuses on health economics, particularly the measurement and analysis of inequity in health, health care, and health insurance, as well as inequalities of opportunity in health. She also investigates the determinants of health status, health care utilization, and insurance demand, and more broadly evaluates health system regulation policies, with special attention to insurance and health care financing systems. Her work has been published in leading journals including the BMJ, International Journal of Epidemiology, Health Economics, Journal of Health Economics, Journal of Human Resources, Social Science and Medicine, Health Policy, European Journal of Ageing, and European Journal of Public Health.
Project Overview: Financial incentives have been used in the U.S. to promote healthier behaviors such as smoking cessation, weight management, vaccination uptake, and preventive screenings. While evidence shows these programs can be effective in the short term, results are mixed — especially among disadvantaged populations — and key questions remain about their long-term impact, ethical implications, and equity. This project will examine how financial incentive programs are designed and implemented across the U.S., focusing on variations by funding source, population targeted, and delivery model. Through a combination of literature review, case studies, stakeholder interviews, and comparative surveys, the research will assess the effectiveness and acceptability of these programs and explore their ethical and social implications. Findings will inform practical guidance for designing equitable and sustainable incentive models, with relevance for both U.S. health systems and future efforts in France. Insights will support ongoing work with public health agencies in France exploring incentive-based approaches to reduce smoking in pregnancy and promote preventive care.