Lots of management gurus talk about how to improve employees' morale by giving them a goal and then letting them decide how to achieve it -with a reward at the end for making the target. Or a parent might say: "Sure - I'll pay you $10 to mow the lawn, and I don't care how or when you get it done, as long as it's done by 6." This may result in the parent coming home at 6 to find a close-cropped lawn -- but a stolen goat pastured in the front yard.

So incentives for performance make sense - but sometimes it's a good idea to include a little guidance.

That's the basic idea behind offering "Performance Incentives for Global Health," new from our friends at the Center for Global Development. Ruth Levine and co-author Rena Eichler make the case for "starting with the result - more children immunized, for example -- and letting health workers and managers on the ground decide how to achieve them." Their report offer guidelines drawn from real-world experience. In an era of tightened budgets, incentives can improve outcomes at lower cost.