Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/107386 
Year of Publication: 
2015
Series/Report no.: 
CESifo Working Paper No. 5211
Publisher: 
Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo), Munich
Abstract: 
This research explores the origins of the distribution of time preference across regions. It advances the hypothesis, and establishes empirically that geographical variations in the natural return to agricultural investment have had a persistent effect on the distribution of time preference across societies. In particular, exploiting a natural experiment associated with the expansion of suitable crops for cultivation in the course of the Columbian Exchange, the research establishes that pre-industrial agro-climatic characteristics that were conducive to higher return to agricultural investment, triggered selection and learning processes that had a persistent positive effect on the prevalence of long-term orientation.
Subjects: 
time preference
delayed gratification
economic growth
culture
agriculture
economic development
evolution
JEL: 
O10
O40
Z10
Document Type: 
Working Paper
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