Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/106276 
Year of Publication: 
2013
Series/Report no.: 
Working Paper No. 2013:22
Publisher: 
Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy (IFAU), Uppsala
Abstract: 
This paper investigates the relationship between time preferences and lifetime social and economic behavior. We use a Swedish longitudinal dataset that links information from a large survey on children's time preferences at age 13 to administrative registers spanning over four decades. Our results indicate a substantial adverse relationship between high discount rates and school performance, health, labor supply, and lifetime income. Males and high ability children gain significantly more from being future-oriented. These discrepancies are largest regarding outcomes later in life. We also show that the relationship between time preferences and long-run outcomes operates through early human capital investments.
Subjects: 
intertemporal choice
personality
preference parameter
human capital
income
health
JEL: 
D03
D91
J01
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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