Skipping Your Workout Could Cost You

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STEVE INSKEEP, host:

And today's last word in business is forced fitness.

A new company in Boston aims to make you healthier by fining you if you don't work out. Gym-Pact works with local fitness centers. And when you sign up, you make a commitment to exercise a certain amount of time. And if you skip your workout, you get fined $10 a day.

The company's founders are a couple of Harvard grads who were inspired by a class in behavioral economics. They learned that people are more motivated by immediate consequences, like losing 10 bucks. You would think that people already have a financial incentive to exercise if they have a health club membership; the money is wasted if they don't show up. But it turns out that when you pay up front, you've already lost that money - making it more likely that you will fall off the treadmill.

That's the business news on MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.

RENEE MONTAGNE, host:

And I'm Renee Montagne.

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