Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/256820 
Year of Publication: 
2022
Series/Report no.: 
UCD Centre for Economic Research Working Paper Series No. WP22/03
Publisher: 
University College Dublin, UCD School of Economics, Dublin
Abstract: 
This paper explores the possibility that demand for costly commitment may prove unnecessary and thus excessive. In an online experiment, subjects face a tedious productivity task where tempting YouTube videos invite procrastination. Subjects can pay for a commitment device that removes the videos with some probability less than one, allowing us to compare their willingness to pay with realized material and psychological costs of temptation. A significant share of subjects overestimate their commitment demand, being overly pessimistic about their performance when tempted. However, the total realized ex-post disutility from undercommitment is greater than that from overcommitment.
Subjects: 
Commitment devices
pessimism
self-control
JEL: 
C91
D03
D91
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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