Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/120963 
Year of Publication: 
2015
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 9314
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
The ability to delay gratification has been shown to be related to higher education and income and better health status. We study in an experiment with 336 kindergarten children, aged three to six years, whether intertemporal choice behavior is malleable. In a control condition, about 50% of children prefer two rewards the next day over one reward immediately. By setting a simple default this fraction increases to more than 70%, indicating that simple defaults work very successfully in promoting delay of gratification. We also find that patience increases with age and that more patient children have a lower BMI.
Subjects: 
delay of gratification
intertemporal choice
default
experiment
children
JEL: 
C91
D03
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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